Debonair
by forever.and.always.unwritten
Summary: I backed away, letting his hand drop from my damp hair. "I still don't hate you." JackOC
1. A Touch of Destiny

**First story! Excited = kinda. Nervous = very. This may or may not work out, and if I slip up or do not finish, please keep reading whatever I write.**

**Wish me luck!**

* * *

I picked up the already lit candle, watching it melt with little interest. It really was beautiful, though. The slow trickling of droplets of wax moving downwards until they hit the golden candleholder truly made me gaze in fascination. I gently touched a still wet bead that was rolling towards it's fate and watched it harden on my fingertip.

Sighing, I moved to the next candle in the small hut and lit it. And the next one. And the next. On and on, I continued until the entire room was filled with the dim glow of candlelight. _Like butterscotch washing over Tia's many relics_, I thought gently. _It seeps off of everything, making a shadow of darkness_. I began to look hurriedly around for a scroll of some sort so I could write that down.

Tia mumbled indistinctly over her spot at the rotting wooden table. Her hands were hovering above her crab claws and corks. She was studying them with rapt attention. I never fully understood why they were of importance, but, then again, it wasn't mine to understand.

While turning around, I saw something completely out of the ordinary: a face peering in through the windows in her door. Immediately, I backed up until I was basically behind her peeling, moth-eaten, ragged curtain. The stranger opened the door and Tia looked up from her work.

"Jack Sparrow," she drawled in her heavy accent. The man - rather tall, reeking of piracy - gave her a charming smile.

"Tia Dalma," he replied, dodging a hanging jar of rotting kidney stones hanging from the ceiling. He was followed shortly by several men, all of whom were smelling just as foul of treason, killing, and rum.

"I always knew da wind would blow ya back to me one day," she said slowly. She had risen and was standing happily in front of him for a moment before looking away at the man just a bit taller who was in behind Sparrow. "You," Tia suddenly breathed. "You have a touch of…destiny about you, William Turner."

He looked down at her quizzically. "You know me?" he asked. I heard her breathy laugh.

"You wanna know me?" Sparrow stepped in between them, more than a little rattled at her sudden liking to his colleague.

"There'll be no knowing you," he gruffly said. "We've come for help and we're not leaving without it." He turned Tia around and walked her back to the table, mumbling, "I thought I knew you."

"Not so well as I had hoped," she tittered with a smile. "Come."

"Come," Sparrow mimicked.

I felt her eyes fall upon me lurking behind the shadows and she nodded her head towards the incoming men. I shook mine in return, but she widened her eyes and barred her teeth. Sighing, I stepped out just enough so I was visible.

"Dis is my…_apprentice_, if you will," Tia said. "Jack Sparrow, William Turner, all of your crew, dis is Emberlynn." She motioned towards me and I felt my face grow warmer than usual. The tallest, thinnest man of any of them with a wooden eye couldn't stop looking at me, but it wasn't with vulgarity or perverted instincts. It was a shy, nervous gaze. I smiled at him and he gulped visibly.

"So…what service may I do you?" Tia ran her hand over William's cheek, smiling naughtily. She looked up at the last moment, though, to Sparrow. "You know I demand payment," she stipulated. Sparrow held up a hand.

"I brought payment," he replied easily. He whistled at his crew and one brought over a cage holding a monkey. Tia eyed it oddly. "Look," he said, holding it and taking out his pistol. I felt myself gasp as he pulled the trigger, yet the monkey just covered his ears in fright. He was unharmed. "An undead monkey! Top that."

Tia opened the cage and the crew watched with disappointment as it ran off. "You've no idea how long it took us to catch that," he groaned. She shrugged and set the cage on the floor.

"De payment is fair," she said simply. William took something out of his jacket and set it onto the table.

"We're looking for this." Tia gazed down at the material and I, too, tried to make out what it was. From my limited vision, it seemed to be a key. "And what it goes to."

She immediately turned to Sparrow. "De compass you bartered from me, it cannot lead you to dis?" she accused. He stopped looking at the hat in his hands.

"Maybe. Why?" he replied. Tia's grin grew like a Cheshire cat.

"_Aye_," she began, sitting down, looking gleeful. "Jack Sparrow does not know what he wants! Or, do you know? But load to claim it as your own?" She looked around at them all expectantly. "Your key go to a chest. And it is what lay inside de chest you seek, don't it?"

"What _is_ inside?" the man with the overgrown sideburns asked.

"Gold? Jewels? Unclaimed properties of a valuable nature?" the short, pudgy man who looked most like a pirate inquired. I rolled my eyes. Of course, pirates were very into the whole 'what're we searching for' thing.

The man who had been looking at me before averted his line of sight from a jar of eyeballs next to his head. "Nothing…_bad_ I hope?" Yep, he was my favorite.

"You know of Davy Jones, yes?" Tia said darkly. My head snapped to look at her. She wasn't usually into sharing about him. "A man of de sea. A great sailor. Until he run afoul of what vex all men."

"What vexes all men?" William asked. Tia ran her hand over his, letting out another laugh.

"What indeed."

"The sea?" Sideburns guessed.

"Sums!" the chubby man next to him cried.

"Dichotomy of good and evil?" Everyone stared at the wooden eyeball man in shock. I needed to let out the correct answer before someone said something even more stupid.

"A _woman_." I was surprised to hear that Sparrow had said it at the same time. He gave me a withering look and I stuck my tongue out at him juvenilely.

"A wo_man_! He fell in love," Tia sighed. I crossed my arms over my chest, thinking sullenly, _I know where this is going_.

Sideburns shook his head. "No, no, no, no, I heard it was the _sea_ he fell in love with." Tia glared at him.

"Same story, different versions, and all are true," she scolded. "See, it was a woman, as changing, and harsh, and untameable as de sea. Him never stop loving her. But de pain it cause him was too much to live wid, but not enough to cause him to die."

"What _exactly_ did he put into the chest?" William asked quietly. Tia put her right hand near her left shoulder.

"Him _heart_," she exhaled.

"Literally or figuratively?" Wooden Eyeball asked.

"He couldn't li'erally put his heart in the chest!" Chubby turned to Tia. "Could he?"

"It was not wort' feeling what small, fleeting joy life brings," she replied smartly. "So…him carve out him heart, lock it away in a chest, and hide de chest from de world. De key -" She paused to gaze down at the drawing "- he keep wid him at all times."

William stood up abruptly, glaring at Sparrow with anger. "You knew this," he said harshly. Sparrow feinted ignorance.

"I did not." I hated him. "I didn't know where the key was. But now we do! So all that's left is to climb aboard the Flying Dutchman, grab the key, you go back to Port Royal and save your bonnie lass, aye!" He turned to leave, and I felt rage bubble within me. Lying to someone you're close to, pretending things that aren't real. It made me sick.

And then, I felt myself say, rather loudly, "Let me see your hand."

Everyone froze, including me. Sparrow turned around slowly on his heel to look at me. I felt as though the wind had been knocked out of me.

"Beg pardon, love?" he asked. His tone was taunting, even if it was just underneath all the words. I mustered any courage I had in my suddenly cold body and held out my own, much smaller palm.

"Let. Me. See. Your. Hand," I said gradually. He smirked and held out his right one. I looked at it for a moment, eyeing him sceptically. Finally, he sighed and gave me his left. I pulled it towards me roughly. As I began to take off the bandage that he had covering his lower palm, I noticed that his skin was rather calloused. He was flinching as I moved my skin against his.

I pulled the end of the gauze off and Sideburns gasped dramatically. A large, inflamed stretch of skin was the color of charcoal.

"The black spot!" Sideburns cried. He wiped his hands on his chest, turned around to his left once, and spit on the floor. I flinched at how disgusting that was. However, Wooden Eye and Chubby repeated his actions, muttering, "Black spot!" as they did.

"My eyesight's as good as ever, just to you know," Sparrow announced. I sighed and looked at Tia. She nodded. Silently, I dropped the gauze and went behind the curtains. Walking past the corpse that the monkey had climbed upon, I began to look through her many shelves of things. I came across an open case displaying human teeth, several plates with larva or broken moths crawling across them weakly, and an interestingly designed lace glove with a bite taken out of it. At last, I found what was needed.

"Davy Jones cannot make port," I heard Tia begin while walking back in. "Cannot step on land but once every ten years. Land is where you are safe, Jack Sparrow. And so -" She took the large glass container of sand from me and held it out to him "- you will carry land wid you."

Silence followed while Sparrow inspected the bottle. "Dirt. This is a jar of dirt." Tia nodded.

"Yes."

"Is the jar of dirt going to help?" he asked hopefully. She gave him a fierce look.

"If ya don't want it, give it back," she snapped. He clutched it to his chest.

"No!" he angrily grumbled.

Tia smiled again. "Den it helps." William coughed a bit.

"It seems we have a need to find the Flying Dutchman," he said. Tia sat back down and picked up her dice-like crab claws. Shaking them, she muttered, "A touch of destiny!" And threw them onto the tabletop so they were in an order.

She explained to Jack where they were supposed to head to find Davy Jones, and when everyone began to pile out, she pulled my arm.

"Go wid dem," she said clearly. I gaped at her.

"No, I'm not done my training," I tried to tell her. "I have so much to learn. You promised to teach me -"

"- as udder-wise you would have told de world what you learned when your parents died," Tia finished. "But if it's for de greater good for all, I tink you should go do it."

"How is following a bunch of squabbling pirates with hygiene problems for the greater good?" I snapped. She put a hand on my shoulder.

"It will come to you," she replied gently.

And for some reason, I did.

* * *

**In case you hadn't noticed, I'm following the plotline of Dead Man's Chest. I'll be doing that and possibly - if I get that far - all the way to the end of At World's End. It IS a romance, but it is a lot of hating and spatting all the time between our later-lovers. So, enjoy this, and press that button there! Downwards!**


	2. The Flying Dutchman

**Two chapters in two days :) I call that progress**

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"_Thank you, Ragetti_," I whispered. He smiled at me nervously and I grinned back, kissing his cheek gently.

Blushing, he hurried me under the deck. He looked around with anxiety as I climbed in the most unladylike fashion. My flat-footed boots barely clicked against hollow wood. I looked around the level I was now on. It was empty, save for a hammock or two and the many cannons poking out of the holes on the side.

"I'll come down to get you after a short while, just before nightfall," he told her in a low voice. "Follow my instructions. The crew sleep down here, but never enter during the day, not unless there's a general ruckus. And we're in pretty calm waters. We'll be alright. So just rest up." And he shut the door closed.

I stepped back slowly from the ladder, sighing a bit. I didn't want to be on the ship, really. Tia had persuaded me, and I had had a fleeting, most insignificant feeling that maybe it was the right thing to do, in the end. But I was surrounded now by filthy, putrescent, thieving, unreliable, unfaithful pirates who would stop at nothing to get what they wanted, whether that be to recover a chest of gold, or to get under a girl's petticoat.

My hands gently began to unpin my hair, letting it fall on my shoulders. The blonde strands that were so used to being kept up now were set free. I didn't realize how long my hair had gotten, as when I pulled it over my shoulder, I noticed that it nearly reached my hip. Shrugging, I continued to get undressed.

The dress was next. Living on the Pantano River my entire life, I'd become accustom to some excessive warmth while dressed so heavily. But even Tia had limits, which included what most women would consider good dressing. I pulled off the dark gown made of odd scraps of material and threw it aside. I was now down to my dirtied shift. It wasn't fancy, but it was practical and almost as dark as my now clumped dress that was going to collect dust.

Kicking off my leather boots so they hit the wall, I fell into the hammock and melted immediately. Although I'd slept through and through on a rather comfortable mattress stuffed with hay all my life, the hammock was a nice change. It rocked in time with the boat.

I felt myself drifting away from reality, yet I could still hear the sound of waves hitting the sides of the ship. I let my mind sway in time with the open Caribbean air. It was incredibly soothing…

I did fall asleep.

But nightmares plagued me.

Nightmares of my parents. I could remember vividly the night they both were taken away because of the influenza that had swept the nation. I was only twelve, yet it was all so real.

"_Mom!" I shrieked. The man holding me back attempted to keep me from touching her limp hand, calling over me that it was incredibly contagious. I didn't care. I just wanted to hold her, feel her arms around me, know everything was going to be alright._

"_Miss. Palms, you need to calm down and let them go! It's for the better!" I shook my head ferociously, fighting back tears. My hair was in my face. I was freezing to death. But all I cared about, all I truly wanted, was to hear their voices. The last time I had, they'd been fighting. I didn't want them to part from this life like that._

_My father came out next. He was awake, unlike Mum, but his eyes were drooping, sagging, and he looked unimaginably drawn and ill. I reached out to touch his arm, but he pulled back, screaming in a scared tone, "Go away! Damned spirits, be gone!"_

_I shook with fright, tears streaming down my face. "Dad, no, Dad, it's me! I'm alright! You're going to be okay!" But he continuously shook his head, covering his ears._

"_No! I won't hear of it! Ghosts of the past, send ye to your graves! Let your master, Satan, have you for all I care!" He held up beaded necklace with a large cross at the end. "Hah! You shall be condemned, damned, for all eternity! Be with Tia Dalma in all her voodoo witch doctor business! She is the goddess of the sea, the one who enjoys tantalizing innocent humans! And you are in cahoots with her! AWAY WITH YOU!"_

_The buggy closed it's doors and the last moment I'd ever seen my father breathing was him telling me to leave. To be gone. To go to hell. I became an atheist that day. Because of God really loved me, he'd have let my parents live._

* * *

It seemed like I'd only slept two minutes, but it must've been longer, for when I fell out of my hammock, through the portholes, I could see inky blackness take over the sky, along with heavy rain clouds that opened up and let their tears fall.

The second thing I noticed was that there were about ten men standing around me, staring at the girl on the ground.

"Stowaway!" Sideburns cried. Everyone just continued to stare at me. I glared back at them, hoping to create some sort of fear within their much larger bodies.

Everyone turned when the door leading downwards opened and Sparrow stepped onto the lower deck. He looked a bit tipsy and gazed at his crew until he finally spotted me, splayed out on the floor in my under-dress. He pointed a finger accusingly and strutted forward.

"You," he growled. "Why are you aboard my vessel, sea monkey?"

I got up slowly, taking my time to clean off my dusty hair and shift. Finally, I replied lazily, "I'm just a stowaway." His eyebrows fell farther down his face.

"How did you get here? I thought we lost you and your oddball voodoo priestess leader back in the Cypress Forest."

I yearned to look at Ragetti, but knew that that would only cause problems, such as stirring a group of pirates and making them think one of their own had helped a stowaway come aboard. Even if it was the truth, I wasn't about to let them know that.

"You don't need to know," was all I shot back. The rain was growing louder against the wood, and one man above called out. Everyone forgot about me in their rush to get up. I followed quickly, but not before grabbing a belt from the hook on the wall. With speed, I stuffed a loaded pistol and a sword into it's scabbard.

Hey, I may hate pirates, but I wanted more than anything to remain alive.

The moment I was out from the safety of the deck, I was drenched. Raindrops fell on me by the bucketfuls. I felt my messy hair turn to damp strands and I pushed them off my forehead.

"That's the _Flying Dutchman_?" William asked, staring out at the dark sea. I looked, too, and saw a shipwreck half submerged in water. No one seemed to be near it. But Sparrow and Sideburns nodded. William shrugged. "She doesn't look like much."

"Neither do you," Sparrow replied, walking closer to him at the rail, followed shortly by his friend. "Do _not_ underestimate her." I walked closer to get a better view of the broken ship, and so I could hear their conversation more clearly.

Sparrow elbowed Sideburns in the stomach, and he added, "Must've run afoul of the reef!"

"So, what's your plan, then?" Sparrow asked.

"I row over, search the ship until I find your bloody key," William retorted.

"If there are crewman?" William gave him a look.

"I cut down anyone in my path," he said, and turned away. Sparrow nodded in agreement.

"I like it," he shouted over the torrent of wind and rain. "Simple, easy to remember." He turned as well, but jumped back a bit in fright at the sight of me, screaming. "What're you still doing here? I thought I told you to get the bloody hell off of my ship!" I shook my soaked head at him.

"You told me no such thing, _Captain_," I snapped back. He gave me a disgruntled, disgusted look and continued walking. I followed behind Sideburns. They all leaned over the railing, and I followed suit so I could see William sitting in the small rowboat. Thundering waters crashed around him loudly.

"_Oi_!" Sparrow called down. "If you _do_ happen to get captured, just say Jack Sparrow sent you to settle his debt! Might save your life!"

William rowed away slowly through the huge waves, and I heard Sparrow mutter to Sideburns, "Douse the lamps."

Each flickering candle, one by one, went out in the huge ship. I watched them be done, trying to piece together what was happening, and when it did come to me, I was enraged.

"_You_!" I shrieked at Sparrow in his cabin. "You are the slimiest git on this Godforsaken earth!" He barely looked up from his papers and compasses.

"Mr. Gibbs, if you will be so kind as to escort this sea monkey out," he gently ordered Sideburns in the corner. He rose to do so, but threw him off harshly.

"Get off me!" I cried, storming over to the grimy desk. I slapped my hand on it angrily. "How could you be so heartless as to give away a colleague, a friend, to someone worse than you!"

He still didn't look up, instead just putting the mouth of a dirty bottle to his lips. It was half-filled with a heavy brown liquid. With little patience, I grabbed it from his hands and threw it at the wall.

After the loud smash, there was dead silence.

"I did not _ask_ you to follow us, sea monkey!" Sparrow cried. He stood up with anger. "You followed, and it is your fault if you see something that you may or may not wish to! If you wanted to remain safe, you should've stayed with Tia Dalma! I don't need you chastising me for things I do, or ridding me of my bloody rum!" He stared at the puddle of, what I now understood to be, alcohol and shards of glass on the floor.

I huffed, crossing my arms. "I didn't come on my own accord. Tia tricked me into it, saying it was for the greater good -"

"And Tia is never wrong, not as far as I can remember, which is plenty far back. So, she's probably right." He turned me around and began to push me out of his room. "So come along, I don't give a damn, quite frankly, but just keep out of my business!" He gave me a final shove, and I spun around to see him about to close the doors.

"You are a swine," I grumbled, and spat on his cheek. Then I turned and booked it to a staircase across the deck.

* * *

I watched hatred as Sparrow stomped back onto the deck a short while later. I'd not yet to begin to shiver from the rain - which, by the way, had stopped - as it was a nice change from the moist, overheated air of the river in Cuba I was so used to. My hair was hanging limply on my shoulders, completely drenched through. The gunpowder in my pistol was probably unusable, but just holding it made me feel powerful.

He yanked a telescope from his jacket, and pulled it forward. Placing it on his eye, I watched the dark, storming sea from afar. I could see a real ship now, not just the small broken one that had been sitting alone before.

Suddenly, in front of Sparrow, there was the tallest, bulkiest man I'd ever seen, his face spurting tentacles that reached his hips. His eyes were black and perilous, without pity or mercy. And I knew who this was in an instant.

Davy Jones.

* * *

**Cliffhanger-ish-thingy :D I hope you enjoyed this one as immensely as the previous, and I am working dilligently on the third chapter as I type. I'm also currently downloading all the movies, so they'll be for my personal use later on**

**Reviews make my day, and without them, I shall not continue. At least two :)**


	3. Davy Jones and Tortuga

**God, I'm zipping through this xD I hope to keep up the pace, though I can't promise it**

* * *

All the men on the ship were suddenly surrounded by the ugliest bunch I'd ever seen. They had the stature of humans, but the limbs and faces of creatures from the deep. They grabbed each pirate and held their weapons to their throats. I found myself struggling against an eel-headed creature with razor sharp teeth. His mouth was near the pulse point on my neck, threatening.

"Oh," was all Sparrow muttered. I rolled my eyes. _Idiot_.

"You have a debt to pay," Jones began slowly, marching forward, making Sparrow walk backwards. "You've been captain of the _Black Pearl _for thirteen years. _That_ was our agreement!" Sparrow held up a finger.

"Technically, I was only captain for two years, then I was viciously mutinied upon," he pointed out.

"Then you were a poor captain, but a captain nonetheless," Jones snapped. "Have you not introduced yourself all these years as _Captain_ Jack Sparrow?" His crew laughed maliciously. The eel-headed fellow holding me captive gave a cackling roar that deafened me for a moment.

I saw Sparrow swallow visibly, but turned around to face his enemy with ease. "You have my payment," he said. "One soul to serve on your ship is already over there."

"One soul is not equal to another!" Jones bellowed. Sparrow smiled brightly.

"Ah, so we've established my proposal is sound in principle, now we're just haggling over price!" Jones stopped, giving Sparrow a look of mild interest.

"Price?" he asked, popping his fish lips at the end of the word.

"Just how many souls do you think my soul is worth?" Sparrow inquired. Jones looked around at his crewmen, obviously considering. Then he turned back to Sparrow and said five dreadful words:

"One hundred souls. Three days."

To me, this was seemingly impossible. How the bloody hell could anyone garner one hundred souls in three days? But Sparrow was unfazed, and smiled charmingly, his arms wide.

"You're a diamond, mate!" he cried. "Send me back the boy, I'll get started right off!" He turned to walk off, but was blocked by one of Jones' men with a hammerhead shark noggin.

"I keep the boy!" Jones announced. "A good-faith payment. That leaves you only ninety-nine more to go!" He and his crew all laughed despicably. Fortunately for Sparrow, he was quick.

"Have you not met Will Turner?" he asked. "He's noble, heroic, _terrific_ soprano." I chuckled silently to myself there. "Worth at least four…maybe three and a half. And did I happen to mention…he's in love?" Jones' head snapped up and he stared at Sparrow, who began to slowly circle him. "With a girl. Due to be married. Betrothed. Dividing him from her and her from him would only be half as cruel as actually allowing them be joined in holly matrimony. Aye?"

Jones looked as though, for half a second, he would let Will go back with Sparrow, but he woke from his reverie at the last moment.

"I keep the boy. Ninety-nine souls," he called out. He turned around to face his nemesis. "But I wonder, Sparrow, can you live with this? Can you condemn an innocent man - a _friend_ - to a lifetime of servitude in your name while you roam free?"

Sparrow stared at the floor for a moment before replying, "Yep! I'm good with it." I really, truly hated him. "Should we seal it in blood - er, or rather, ink?"

Jones hand - the one that wasn't a giant claw - grabbed Sparrow's and began to rub it, resulting in a squishy sound. Sparrow gasped at the feeling. I looked at their joined hands and saw that Sparrow's limb was becoming covered in a thick, nearly transparent slime.

"Three days," Jones breathed, before letting go and walking off. His crew followed, all muttering, "_Three days_," as well. The eel man backed off and joined the queue of freaks. I quickly walked over to Sparrow and Mr. Gibbs.

"What the bloody hell was that all about?" I asked, scared. But Sparrow was too busy staring at his gunge-covered limb. It appeared that underneath the thick runny substance, the black spot and disappeared.

"Oh, Mr. Gibbs?" he asked quietly, ignoring me blatantly.

"Aye."

"Uh, I feel sullied and unusual."

Mr. Gibbs sucked in a breath. "And how do you intend to _harvest_ these ninety-nine souls in three days?" Sparrow stopped staring at the black sky.

"Fortunately, he was mum as the conditions in which these souls need be," he replied.

"Aye, Tortuga?" Mr. Gibbs asked knowingly.

Sparrow wiped his filthy hand on Gibbs' chest. "Tortuga," he replied.

* * *

I held onto Mr. Gibbs closely as we trailed through the small island of Tortuga. The place had the heavy stench of rum and gun smoke. Every way I turned, I saw someone pointing a pistol at someone else, or wrestling a cheaply dressed wench, or falling down a well.

"Come wi' me for a drink, aye, letty prady?" a drunk cried to me. I gagged at him, pushing closer to Gibbs. He gave the drunk a shove backwards and I watched in disgust as he collapsed into the arms of an indulging hussy.

We all fell into a filthy pub called the Scurvy Dog. Loud music was being played by several men, all of whom were dressed in dirt smeared rags. Gibbs dropped in front of a thick wooden table, pulled a chair up next to him, and patted it for me to sit. I did so, huddling slightly. Sparrow sat down on a barrel and propped his feet up on another table. I watched from the corner of my eye as he shook a small black box with a gold strip wrapped around it.

"Just remain quiet," Gibbs advised. I nodded and took a mug of rum from a passing waitress. I sniffed it once, repulsed, and just sat with it silently. Within minutes, several men, all of whom looked smashed or just worn through were standing in front of us.

"And what makes you think you're worthy to crew the _Black Pearl_?" Gibbs asked the first in line. He was elderly and wearing torn up clothing.

"Truth be told, I never sailed a day in me life," he explained happily, shaking. "I figure I should get out and see the world while I'm still young!" I rolled my eyes at the old codger.

"You'll do, make your mark," Gibbs replied. He pointed towards a piece of parchment before calling out, "Next!"

"My wife ran off with my dog," a jilted-looking man with a dribble of spit running down his chin said. "And I'm drunk for a month. And I don't give an ass rat's if I live or die." Gibbs smiled.

"Perfect! Next!" A tall black fellow came up looking solemn.

"Me have one arm 'n' a bum leg," was all he mumbled.

"It's the crow's-nest for you," Gibbs soothed. "Next."

The last of all was a short, paunchy guy who scared me a bit. "Ever since I was a little lad, I've always wanted to sail the seas. Forever." Gibbs grinned.

"Sooner than you think, sign the roster," he charmed. I felt myself suppress a cruel laugh at how ironically true those words were.

"Thanks very much." The guy sounded extremely happy. _Poor chum_, I thought sadly, watching him walk off with a spring in his step. _He's no idea what he just got himself into_.

"How we going?" Sparrow asked, startling me into dropping my mug.

"Including those four?" Gibbs began. "That gives us…four!" Sparrow stopped gazing at the box for a moment and his eyes fell on me. I gave him a snotty look and he snapped his look back to the cube.

Gibbs looked back around, put on a very fake smile, and said calmly to the newest candidate, "And what's _your_ story?" Even though I attempted to block out the sound as I watched my hands intently, his voice - masculine, seemingly charismatic - broke through the barrier.

"My story…it's exactly the same as your story, just one chapter behind. I chased a man across the seven seas. The pursuit cost me my crew, my commission, and my life." I looked up at the stranger and was revolted.

He was tall, nicely built, but wore a ripped top, vest, and trousers, making his appeal lower. His hair was large and matted, streaked with what looked like rum. I was sure that underneath all that nauseating stink and grime, there was an attractive man. He took a long gulp from a thick-glassed bottle caked with dirt, and belched a bit at the end.

"Commodore?" Gibbs gaped.

"No, _not _anymore, weren't you _listening_?" the ex-commodore spat. Gibbs put his hands half up in surrender, and the ex-commodore leaned closer to him menacingly. "I nearly had you all, off Tripoli. I would have, if not for that hurricane."

"Lord. You didn't try to sail through it?"

"So do I make your crew, or not?" Gibbs looked down at his paper, faking consideration. "You haven't said where you're going. Somewhere nice?" The ex-commodore threw our table backwards, and I screamed as it fell on top of my leg. The pain was bearable, but I still tried fruitlessly to remove the heavy block of wood from my limb.

"So am I _worthy_ to serve under Captain Jack Sparrow?" he exclaimed to the entire tavern, as it went silent. Gibbs began to help my get myself up from under the table. I looked over to where Sparrow had been, and was surprised to see that he was no longer there. A gun clicked, making me turn to see that he was trying pathetically to hide behind a green branch while the ex-commodore held a gun at arms length towards him. "Or should I just kill you now?"

Sparrow leant backwards so his head was sticking out from the other side of the pole. The pistol followed, as it did when he repeated the action forwards. With a weak smile, Sparrow said, "You're hired!" The ex-commodore smiled maliciously.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Old habits and all that." He made to pull the trigger, but two of the recruits grabbed him and pointed the pistol upwards, crying, "Easy, sonny!"

A shot rang out and I watched as the ball deflected off the chandelier and hit some drunk's bottle, breaking it. Soon enough, the entire place was in an all out war. I felt my hips to check that I had both my pistol and sword, and was thankful to feel them both there.

Within moments, I was in the midst of a battle between the ex-commodore and any man with a cutlass. I had no experience fighting with anything but words, so this was quite new. I pulled my weapon out of it's sheath and began to clang it against someone else's sharp metallic thing.

Oddly enough, I learned with relative ease. My face, by the end of the battle, was bloodied and scraped and sore, but I could now handle the weapon so popular throughout these waters. I was now standing against a tall pillar with the ex-commodore and a very feminine looking man on either of my sides.

"Come on, men!" the ex-commodore called out loudly. "Who wants some? Form an orderly line, I'll have you all one by one! Come on, who's first?" The girly man huffed, grabbed the bottle of rum from his hand, and smashed it over his head. The place went silent.

"I just wanted the pleasure of doing that myself!" he screamed. Everyone raised their swords and cups and agreed with a cheer. The next thing I knew, they were all helping to throw him out the back with the pigs.

The girly man walked over to him slowly and I watched from afar, hiding a bit behind some crates. He knelt down next to the ex-commodore who was covered in mud and muttered something incomprehensible from my faraway spot.

He helped him stand up and began to slowly walk forwards, nearer to me. It was during the briefest moment that their eyes met that I knew the truth.

"Excuse me, Miss?" I asked the person who I knew to be a woman now. She stared at me for a moment before sighing. "Do you know of Captain Jack Sparrow? And a Mr. Gibbs?"

She looked at me oddly for a moment before smiling. "Help me find them, will you?"

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	4. Persuasion

**I feel so speedy! This is just weird for me, I'm a very lazy person, so this is new. Please don't get sick of me adding chapters, it's with the subscriptions and love of this story that keeps it going!**

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"Captain Sparrow!" Elizabeth called. Sparrow turned around briefly to see who it was, not recognizing her as a female.

"Come to join me crew, lad? Welcome aboard," he welcomed. I shifted under the weight of James Norrington, the ex-commodore, uncomfortably as we wobbled along a bit farther behind them.

"I'm here to find the man I love," she said. I laughed a bit at this. It was quite obvious how that sounded, and Sparrow stopped in his tracks.

"I'm deeply flattered, son, but my first and only love is the sea," he replied as Norrington suddenly gasped and flew off my helping arm. He leaned over the edge of the dock and a heavy retching sound elicited from his spot.

Elizabeth smiled a bit. "Meaning William Turner, Captain Sparrow." Sparrow spun around and stared at her in disbelief.

"Elizabeth?" he breathed. I walked closer to hear better, not really wanting to interrupt this. He quickly muttered to Gibbs, "Hide the rum," before turning back to her. "You know, these clothes do not flatter you at all. It should be a dress or nothing. I happen to have no dress in my cabin." I scoffed at him in a disgusted manner and he glared at me. "Was I asking for your opinion, sea monkey?" he coughed. I just stood closer to Elizabeth, who cut over a comeback with, "Jack."

He looked at her instead. "I know Will came to find you. Where is he?" He sighed and looked down at the wooden planks for a second in regret.

"Darling, I am truly unhappy to have to tell you this but... through an unfortunate and _entirely_ unforeseeable series of circumstances that have nothing whatsoever to do with me -" I scoffed again at him, but he ignored me "- poor William has been press-ganged into Davy Jones' crew."

"Oh, yes, because these things _never _have anything to do with you, do they, Sparrow?" I mocked. He gave me a fierce look filled with anger and impatience.

"Shut it!" he yelled. Elizabeth looked a bit confused.

"Davy Jones?" she asked. In the background, I heard Norrington vomit again and then speak rather closely to me.

"Oh, please," he said in a strained voice. It was obvious his throat was burning from all the bile. "The captain of the _Flying Dutchman_?" Sparrow wrinkled his nose.

"You look bloody awful, what're you doing here?" he asked bluntly. I rolled my eyes.

"You hired me," Norrington snapped back wearily. "I can't help it if your standards are lax."

"You smell funny!" Sparrow shot back childishly. Elizabeth once again said loudly, "Jack."

I muttered to Norrington privately, "You really do smell like a pile of cow shit." It was difficult to bite back my smile from the way he was staring at me.

"All I want is to find Will," I just barely heard Elizabeth mumble. Sparrow sighed unhappily, but looked back up at her with mischief behind those pools of molten chocolate.

"Are you certain? Is that what you really want most?" he inquired skilfully. I didn't know where this was going, just that it was headed somewhere bad.

"Of course," Elizabeth replied, looking stunned that he'd even ask such a question. He put a hand on her back, leading her forwards a bit.

"Because _I_ would think that you would want to find a way to _save _Will the most," he explained smoothly. Norrington and I both walked a bit closer to remain within earshot.

"And you'd have a way of doing that?" Elizabeth asked.

"Well, there is a chest -"

"Oh dear," I heard both Norrington and I say at the same time. Sparrow glowered at me most but continued.

"A chest of unknown size and origin," he finished his statement. Pintel, the chubby fellow, and Ragetti walked by carrying a large handled crate filled with rum.

"What contains the still beating heart of Davy Jones," Pintel exclaimed. Ragetti pretended to pull out his own heart and squished it at a rhythm of pulse, making the noises to go with it.

"And whoever possesses that chest possesses the leverage to command Jones to do whatever it is he or she wants, including saving brave William from his grim fate." Norrington gave both of them a look of ludicrous.

"You don't actually believe him, do you?" he asked her. I elbowed him in the ribs.

"Don't be so sure, mate," I muttered through gritted teeth. Elizabeth looked at me for a moment, but I gave no sign of what to do. I didn't even know what I thought would be the right thing.

Finally, she question gently, "How would we find it?" Sparrow pulled out from his jacket the black and gold box.

"With this," he replied. "My compass -" he opened it for a split second, then snapped it back out of view "- is unique."

"'Unique' here having the meaning of 'broken'," Norrington spat. I nudged him again.

"True enough," Sparrow agreed, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Norrington roll his own. "This compass does _not_ point north."

He left the statement hanging until Elizabeth was forced to ask, "Where does it point?"

"It points to the thing you want most in this world," he said with a sly smile. I couldn't think of anything to say. All that came to mind was, _Wow_. Was what he said true?

Elizabeth looked absolutely amazed, and then softly happy. "Oh, Jack," she breathed. "Are you telling the truth?"

"Every word, love," he replied. "And what you want most in this world is to find the heart of Davy Jones, is it not?" He placed the compass into her hands.

"To save Will!" she said defensively. He smiled encouragingly.

"By finding the heart of Davy Jones," he added. He flipped it opened and backed away quickly so that she could have the use of it to herself. I walked next to her and watched as the arrow spun around, uncertain of where to go, until landing in a north-east position.

"Mr. Gibbs!" I gave a shriek at the sight of a head between Elizabeth's hand and my stomach. Gibbs came forward.

"Cap'n."

"We have our heading," Sparrow said proudly.

"Finally!" Gibbs exclaimed, looking up at the darkening heavens with hope. He began to shout orders at the crew. Sparrow touched Elizabeth's shoulder and motioned towards the ship.

"Miss. Swann," he acknowledged. She smiled a bit, but looked back at me and held out an elbow. Smiling, I linked arms with her, walked by Sparrow with a rather smug look on my face, and stomped harshly on his booted foot. He groaned in pain. Elizabeth laughed.

I truly loved her.

* * *

I sat up on my knees, wiping my neck with my cool, damp hands. It was warm out, and since I had grown accustomed to breezy days, the still, overheated air hung around me like a large, smuggling blanket. I wanted badly to wear something smaller, lighter, yet I only owned the heavy black dress that still laid under the deck and my smaller, slightly looser shift. I'd not worn anything besides it, so there were stains covering it and the bottom inch or so was always dripping with seawater. My hair, too, had absorbed the moist salty wind when it came, so it was dry and hanging limply down my back. My hands were calloused and looked like prunes most of the time.

All in all, I felt disgusting.

And yet the feeling of doing something with my life was gratifying, almost enjoyable.

"Best not stop now, missy," a voice next to me said. I turned to see Norrington leaning against the side of the boat, his legs splayed in front of him and a half-filled bottle of rum sitting next to him. He looked cleaner than before, but still was covered in ragged clothing and his hair was still revoltingly filthy. I rose an eyebrow at his words.

"And why not, ex-commodore?" I inquired with a bit of sarcasm. He chuckled.

"Please, James is fine," he replied. "And Captain Sparrow over there will go after your arse if he finds you not working." He hissed out the name with hatred almost as strong as mine and nodded towards him. I crossed my arms and sat up a bit straighter.

"I don't give a damn what _Captain Sparrow _has to say about my not working," I snapped. I looked at him defiantly and saw that he was smiling, so with a sigh I fell into the wall next to him. He held up the bottle, but I shook my head in revulsion.

"Why do you hate him so? I mean, aside from the obvious reasons." I looked him straight in the eye, squinting a bit in the sun. His brown eyes were honest, truthful, and I knew I could tell him.

So I did. I explained the entire story of how it happened: Tia telling me to go, my nightmare, Ragetti helping me. The only thing I left out was Sparrow sending Will off to Davy Jones' crew by tricking him. It didn't seem relevant, and I had _some_ respect for Sparrow.

The entire time, both of us were glancing over at Sparrow, Elizabeth, and Gibbs who were clustered together, speaking about what appeared to be a brown leather envelope filled with papers. Gibbs left a short while in and Elizabeth attempted to retrieve the envelope from Sparrow. She left in a rush to the starboard side and James followed her. I was left alone.

Although I wanted to keep my eyes on his and Elizabeth's conversation, it was difficult, as my eyes continuously wandered to the arrogant, womanizing captain of the _Black Pearl_. He walked the length of the deck in long strides, slowly. I stared at the wood that I had just recently scrubbed till they shone, but a foot blocked my view.

"Why aren't you working, sea monkey?" Sparrow asked. I glared up at him, trying to keep the sun out of my eyes.

"Since when is it against the law to take a break?" I retorted.

"It's against the pirate law," he quickly snapped back at me.

"Since when do pirates follow the law _at all_?"

He opened his mouth with a finger next to his head, but nothing came out. Obviously, I'd bested him. I smiled with confidence and he lowered his look to my face.

"I could pick you up and throw you off my vessel right now if I wanted to, sea monkey," he threatened. I wiped my hands on my shift and stood up. Much to my dismay, I was still an inch shorter than him.

"Why do you call me that?" I questioned. He smiled maliciously.

"Because sea monkeys, as I am sure you know, are creatures you needn't feed nor pay attention to nor love to keep them going."

My breath stopped.

These words hurt. Deeply. My heart was aching. My stomach was tying itself up in knots. My head was reeling with images of my father sending me on my way to hell. And Sparrow had made that accusation without knowing anything of my past.

He looked truly happy that he'd gotten a reaction out of me, and turned on his heel to continue on. I willed myself not to cry and used every last bit of my energy to spin him back around and punch him square in the eye.

The entire ship seemed to grow quiet. I watched as he clutched his wounded orb, rising slowly, his chest heaving. I went up close to him.

"Don't you fucking talk about me like that. Ever. Again."

I hurried down the ladder to my hammock, leaving the shocked silence behind. Burying my face in my hands, I began to cry.

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**"I'm like Tinkerbell, Finn! I need applause to live!" - Rachel Berry**

**Glee anyone?**

**Anyways, I would really enjoy reviews!**


	5. Curiosity

Read it! You need to, or _ma cheval mere _shall eat you!

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"What's wrong?"

Elizabeth looked up at me from her lower place on the old wooden staircase. She was beautiful. No, that was an understatement. Her looks were virginal, innocent, absolutely stunning. And she was quick as a whip and well read to boot. She was perfect.

"I just thought I'd be married by now," she replied quietly, looking sad. She had told me about her love, Will Turner, who turned out to be William who Sparrow had left to fend for himself on the _Flying Dutchman_. I didn't tell her as much, though. I didn't want her to be hurt, afraid, scared for him. "I'm so ready to be married," she breathed as an afterthought.

"You will be," I consoled. "As cliché as it sounds, you and Will are made for each other. You'll get through this whirlpool of hell that mad pirates have created." She gave a soft laugh and began to twiddle with a string on her vest.

A few moments later, Sparrow strode over to us, and saw Elizabeth looking dreadfully sorrowful. He smoothly glided onto a step down from hers.

"My tremendous intuitive of the female creature informs me that you are troubled," I quickly said. I held back the urge to roll my eyes at him.

Ever since the black eye incident, I'd kept my distance from him. I wasn't afraid. Hell, it was basically the opposite. He was more than a little skittish around me, always keeping to himself if we were in the same area. Though a short while ago, he'd begun to lessen that shield from me. He wouldn't jump when I picked up a fork to eat. When I pulled on my boots, he didn't hide behind Mr. Gibbs. He was no longer scared that I'd sock him again if he so much as looked at me. Maybe another black eye would do it.

"Female troubles," was all I told him. He looked at me briefly before popping the cork out of his bottle of rum and offering it to the more glamorous girl in need.

She took it grudgingly from his blackened hands and downed a fair bit of it. When she offered it to me - I was ready to rudely protest - Sparrow grabbed it.

"None for the spinster," he scolded. I glared at him and, just to prove him wrong, wrestled it out of his grip and gulped some. It was disgusting to say the least, but I wasn't going to let him know that. I just smiled at his unhappy expression whilst I passed it back. What satisfied me most was that the ring around his eye was still blossoming blue and black bruises.

"You know, I am captain of a ship," he began grandly. I threw my head back and laughed a bit.

"Is that what this thing is? I thought it was just to hold your ego," I retorted. He breathed in with strained calm and continued.

"And being captain of a ship, I could in fact perform a _marr-i-age _right here. Right on this deck. Right…_now_." He looked up at her with lustful eyes at the last word, and I felt something hot and bitter lick at my heart. It burned it terribly.

Elizabeth, however, recoiled at him and rose quickly, muttering, "No, thank you." I smacked Sparrow upside the head to which he flicked my leg and ran after Elizabeth.

"Why not? We are very much alike, you and I. I and you. Us," he prompted.

"Oh, except for a sense of honour, and decency, and-and a moral center!" she cruelly disagreed. She glanced back at him and added, "And personal hygiene."

Sparrow sniffed his underarm and replied, "Trifles."

As he watched her, I felt that flaming tongue ravage my insides. It felt as though everything within my chest had been set aflame and I wasn't supposed to stop it. Sparrow continuously looked down at her and the desire in his gaze was enough to make the small, newborn beast with fire on his lips cry out in pain.

I cradled myself in my arms, shoving my hair over my shoulder to keep it from going in my face. Since he'd said those words to me, since he'd made me cry for hours, I'd tried not to do anything stupid to get him to say something like it again. I didn't want to suffer the same pain as before.

But, as I watched them toy with each other from afar, I felt as though this was worse. I didn't know why, however. Elizabeth was only trying to get on the captain's good side. She was truly in love with Will, that I knew for certain. If she gave up on him, I'd probably ditch her, but that was beside the point. All she saw in him was a good man and a good heart.

The roguish Sparrow was still my enemy. I still hated him. When he sauntered up and down the _Black Pearl_'s deck, I felt like sticking out my foot and tripping him into a bucket of dirty soap suds. The odd thing was, though, that I couldn't do it. No matter how hard I tried to just jut out an ankle for him to go flying elsewhere, it wouldn't budge.

Then again, did I really - full-heartedly - want him to fall?

"…chance to be admired," I heard Elizabeth finish off with. "And gain the rewards that follow." She gave a breathy laugh. "You won't be able to resist. You're going to want to know _what it tastes like_."

They're gaping lips were less than an inch apart, and the creature began to claw my ribs, my flesh, my beating heart. I clenched my hands tightly into fists around the damp end of my shift. _Don't do anything_, I told myself sternly. She's _just trying to get a rise out of him, to get him to realize a lesson_.

She left him looking unhappy, still yearning her. She walked by me and leaned up against the railing. I stood and leaned next to her.

"You are a twisted, wicked woman," I told her quietly. She gave a titter of laughter and continued towards the armoury for some fresh powder. Sparrow was still watching the rocking waves off the edge of the boat. I sucked in a courageous breath and went towards him, leaning against the wooden edge.

He didn't say a word to me as I came. He barely looked me up and down. And what saddened me most was that I didn't see anything in his gaze. No admiration, pity, amusement, hatred… Nothing. Just a vacant stare.

"You really shouldn't toy with betrothed women," I scolded him, my eyes across the way. He smiled a bit.

"She started it, love, not I," he replied. I turned my head so I could see him fully.

"So it's 'love' again, instead of 'sea monkey'?" His smile fell and I felt myself bite my lip. The creature within made my stomach fill with rocks, so it was heavy and nearly fell through me.

We kept quiet for a short while before I added out of pure spite, "I hope you realize that she's just hormonal without someone to hold close at night, so she's using you as a pawn to do her bidding."

Wow. Bitter, even for me.

He turned to me slowly, but, to my great astonishment, he wasn't angry. An evil grin was placed on his unshaven face. I began to back up slowly as he stepped ever closer.

"Why might you care about what Miss. Swann does to yours truly?" he questioned, still smirking. I shrugged a little. As much as I wanted to stare at the floor, run away, forget this whole conversation, I couldn't. My gaze never left his. My feet were filled with led sinkers. And no matter how hard I tried, I would never be able to remove this little exchange.

"Could it be the devilish green eyed monster peeking through those pores of yours, so you ooze with jealousy?" I took me a minute to figure out what he had said, and when it did come to me, I glared at him with ferocity I didn't know I possessed.

"Don't assume things that you know nothing of, _Sparrow_," I told him. He chuckled under his breath.

"What don't I know about, darling?" he asked. He was close to my face, two inches at the most, and I could smell his rancid breath from that distance. Lesser than I thought, I had to admit.

"_Love_." The word had an acidic taste to it. "Those whores you play around with, and I have no doubt that it's true, never loved you. They loved your body. Your ship. The sex. Roguish, charming looks and quick negotiating will only take you so far in this world."

His smile never dropped. Instead, he rose a hand and very gently swept his fingers along my jaw. My body reacted in a way that my mind was in conflict with. I tried not to lean into his rough, calloused hand. The same hand, I noticed, that I'd taken hold of during our first meeting.

"You think I have roguish, charming looks? That I can negotiate well? That sex had with me is…_enjoyable_?" I shivered at his words. I didn't want to be in this position. We hated each other. We were enemies. And we were meant to stay that way.

"LAND HO!"

_Gibbs, I love you_, I thought to myself. I walked briskly away and turned to say a final word to Sparrow. But he was staring, horrified, at his left hand. He looked around, smiled falsely when he caught me staring at him, and pushed me out of his way when trying to go in a hurry.

"I want my jar of dirt," I heard him mutter before heading upwards.

* * *

Somehow, Elizabeth sucked me into heading ashore with her, James, and Sparrow. The boat ride towards the island was filled with the bickering of Pintel and Ragetti. They were debating over which pronunciation of 'Kraken' was correct. At one point, I scooped up some water in my palm and threw it at them, hushing them.

We arrived on the beach rather quickly, and I thanked James for helping me up from the longboat. Sparrow looked suspicious as we wandered towards a slightly grassier area. As we left with shovels and the compass in tow, he told the crewmen, "Guard the boat. Mind the tide. Don't touch my dirt."

"Don't mind him," James quietly confided to me as we walked across the shallow waters and sands. "He's in it for the treasure, the chest, Davy Jones' heart. He's cranky because he has yet to find it. And the fact that the Kraken shall come upon him doesn't help much either."

I nodded, biting back another smile. We were soon on completely dry sand that had shoots of green leaves sprouting from the higher mounds.

Immediately, I dropped a little ways away from James, and began to braid my hair. From the corner of my eye, I watched as Elizabeth walked up and down the beach. Her eyes were locked on the compass as she moved.

She huffed angrily and sat down with her legs crossed. "This doesn't work," she announced, dropping the compass next to her. "And it _certainly_ doesn't show you what you want most."

Sparrow strode towards her and looked down at the compass' face.

"Yes it does," he replied. "You're sitting on it." She looked up at him with confusion.

"Beg pardon?"

He made a shooing motion with his hands. "Move," he ordered, and she did so quickly. He whistled at James, who brutally stabbed the first shovel into the sand and went to the spot Sparrow was pointing at, beginning to dig.

Many minutes later, we'd made little progress. James was still digging. I'd finished braiding my hair, then undid it, and re-braided it twelve more times, and was now on my back. Elizabeth stood chewing her thumb, watching James' every move. And Sparrow was sitting with his legs crossed and his thumb and index finger put together to make an 'O' lying on each knee.

A heavy thud filled our ears at last, and we all stood up to look into the hole

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**Enjoy it? Read it again if you aren't sure xD You should most definitely review!**


	6. The Fight For The Key

**Another day, another chapter. Literally. I post basically EVERY DAY! I have no life D: Oh well, more writing for you!**

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The chest was large, heavy, and encrusted with sand. Sparrow wiped away most of it and used a shovel to hit the old lock. It broke and fell to the ground. I knelt down on it's right, next to James, and looked inside it once it was open.

The first thing I saw was paper. Mounds of paper, some crumpled up, some curled at the ends, some folded. And a string of pearls. I picked that and a particular piece of parchment that had a bright magenta wax stamp on the front up. In calligraphy almost illegible yet somehow beautiful, I made out the name 'Davy Jones'.

Sparrow shoved all the letters and indescribably elegant words to the side until he found a much smaller, darker chest. Carefully, he picked it up and placed it on the edge of the open, larger one. We all leaned in and heard the steady beat of a heart.

"It's real," Elizabeth breathed. James looked at Sparrow with admiration.

"You actually _were_ telling the truth," he said with a smile.

"I do that quite a lot, yet people are always surprised," Sparrow replied. I rolled my eyes at the pair.

"With good reason!"

I swiftly rose, ready to fight, but saw that it was William Turner. He was dripping wet, looking more rugged than the last time we'd met. I heard the breathy, relieved voice of Elizabeth whisper his name, and she was soon upon him. He kissed her with passion, and I felt myself avert my gaze during it.

"How did you get here?" Sparrow asked loudly.

"Sea turtles, mate," William snapped back. "A pair of them, strapped to my feet."

"Not so easy, is it?"

I snuck a look at James to see what his reaction would be to this little lover's exchange. He was glaring at the sand, kicking it every once in a while, apparently very moody at the return of William.

"But I do owe you thanks, Jack," William went on.

"You do?"

"After you tricked me onto that ship to square your debt with Jones…" He left the sentence hanging so that he could see Elizabeth's reaction. She immediately spun around and stared at Sparrow in disbelief.

"What?"

"_What_?" he imitated. I gazed down at my boots stuck in the sand. Though her rage was towards Sparrow, I felt guilty for knowing something like this and not telling her.

"I was reunited with my father," William finished.

"Oh…well, you're welcome, then," Sparrow replied. Elizabeth rounded on him, inching closer with her eyes squints of fury.

"Everything you said to me," she shrieked. "Every word was a lie?"

"Pretty much," Sparrow mumbled. "Time and tide, love." The sound of a knife being unsheathed filled my ears and I looked down at the smaller chest to see William kneeling in front of it. A large key was in his left hand.

"Oi, what're you doing?" Sparrow asked suspiciously.

"I'm gonna kill Jones."

Sparrow reached to his belt and pulled out his sword, pointing it at William. "I can't let you do that, William," he said. William looked up slowly. "Because if Jones is dead, who's call his terrible beastie off the hunt, eh? Now. If you please. The key." He held his hand out, waiting.

William reached behind him and pulled out Elizabeth's sword, holding it out. She gasped, I stared at them, and James seemed to be fighting with himself internally.

"I keep the promises I make, Jack. I intend to free my father. I hope you're here to see it."

"Oh my God, this is ridiculous," I muttered bitterly. No one spared a glance to me.

James pulled out his sword, too, and pointed it at William. "I can't let you do that either," he told him. "So sorry."

"I knew you'd warm up to me," Sparrow smiled. James turned his sword on him, William was on James, and Sparrow - not wanting to feel left out, I imagine - aimed his at William. Elizabeth was glaring at all of them in disbelief.

"Lord Beckett desires the contents of that chest," James explained. "I deliver it, and I get my life back."

"Ah, the dark side of ambition," Sparrow remarked.

"Oh, I prefer to see it as the promise of redemption."

And suddenly, they were fighting. Swords clashed, metal against metal, in an epic chase to stay alive and attain the key in William's hand. Elizabeth screamed, trying to stop them to no avail. Sparrow swiped the key from William, and James, after kicking the aforementioned boy down, followed closely. Elizabeth ran towards him.

"Guard the chest," he ordered and rose in fury. She glared as he walked away.

"No!" she screamed. She began to head towards them, but I grabbed her arm.

"They're _men_!" I tried to reason to her over the banging of weapons. "This is the only way they know of how to let out frustration and anger. Leave them be!"

She didn't look angry at all, just persistent to stop the pirates of their fighting. She pulled away and ran after them, and I followed because I hadn't anywhere else to go.

"This! Is! Bar_baric_!" she yelled at them, trying to keep up. "This is no way for grown men to settle - oh, _fine_! Let's just _pull_ out our swords and start _banging_ away at each other, that'll solve everything! _I've had it_! I've had it with wobbly-legged, rum soaked _pirates_!"

I stopped chasing after her, breathing heavily, and instead stood beside Ragetti and Pintel, who were watching the battle and Elizabeth throwing rocks at them with interest.

"How'd this go all screwy?" Pintel asked me.

"Well, each damned pirate wants the chest for himself," I began, clutching my abdomen in hopes of regaining some breath. "James is trying to regain a bit of honour. Sparrow over there is looking to trade it to save his own skin. Fucking jackass. And William is trying to settle some unresolved business between him and his twice-cursed pirate father."

They both stared at me in shock, squinting from the sun. "Sad," Ragetti commented.

"That chest must be worth more than a shiny penny," Pintel said with a smirk, looking at the chest a bit of a ways away.

"Oh," Ragetti replied, tsking. "Terrible temptation."

"If we was any kind of _decent_, we'd remove temptation from their path."

I began to protest, but they ignored me completely and, chortling, ran off towards the chest. I looked around for something to stop them, but only came across Elizabeth.

Who was trying pathetically to get their attention.

"Oh, oh!" she screamed. "The heat!" And she fell to the sand as though she'd fainted. For the thousandth time, I attempted not to roll my eyes.

As Pintel and Ragetti high-stepped away from us, Davy Jones' heart in tow, I knelt down next to her and told her sternly, "Get the bloody hell up, act like a woman, and let's go stop those 'wobbly-legged, rum-soaked pirates'!"

She looked after the pair and immediately rose to chase after them with me.

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We followed them all the way to the thicket of tropical forest. As they came in front of a few trees, we popped in front of them, stopping them in their tracks.

Elizabeth reached for her sword, looking satisfied though she was panting, but nothing was there. Ragetti and Pintel smiled evilly, dropped the chest to the ground, and pulled out their own swords.

"'Ello, poppet," Pintel sighed. They began to close in on us, but we stopped at a strange, extremely loud sound.

Odd as it seems, a giant wheel was spinning a few feet away from us. James and William were sword fighting atop it. Closely following, Sparrow was awkwardly trying to catch up to them.

We looked back at Ragetti and Pintel and I was about to run away when I felt my belt. I handed Elizabeth my sword, keeping my pistol. The boys looked scared.

A cry rang out from behind Elizabeth and I, followed by an axe hitting a tree. I spun around and saw Davy Jones' crew - or I assumed that's who they were, since they were half fish - hopping and jogging towards us. I screamed and began to run.

Somehow, we all managed to kill many of the crewmen by screaming at each other, "Sword!" when one was needed. We all made it out alive, and with the chest.

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"Sparrow!"

He looked up just as a sword came down by his hand, and I winced in pain, though he was unharmed. A pair of spiky cannonballs attached together by a chain came towards my head, which I dodged skilfully with little grace.

The codfish-man aimed his cutlass at me and I waited helplessly for death, but a creaking and splashing filled my ears instead. I opened my eyes just in time to catch him and several other _Flying Dutchman _boys being taken out by the giant wheel I'd seen earlier.

I pointed my pistol at a jellyfish pirate and watched him fall to the ground, clutching his wound. This proved to be helpful to a few others as well. I had killed many.

"We're not getting out of this," Elizabeth declared. We had all been forced up against the side of the longboat, Will lying unconscious within it and Sparrow on my right. A few fish people were rising from the shallows and slowly coming towards us.

"Not with the chest," James replied. "Into the boat." He grabbed the chest from within. Elizabeth and I stared at him.

"You're mad," I told him baldly. He smirked a bit.

"Don't wait for me," was all he said, and then took off away from us into the jungle. The crew saw we no longer had the chest and instead followed him.

"I saw we respect his final wish," Sparrow put forth. Pintel nodded eagerly.

"Aye!" he added, and hopped into the boat. I couldn't stop staring at the figure of James, a tiny black dot growing smaller against a green canvas, with slightly bluer blotches following him. It wasn't until Sparrow pulled my arm and I fell backwards partially on his lap and Ragetti's.

"No need to fall for me in such literal terms, love," he observed, winking. I gagged and sat up so that I was near Ragetti. He looked embarrassingly pleased.

"So we leave James to die?" I whispered sadly. It was terrible. I'd killed people - multiple, today - but never seen someone do something like that. Take the prize, but brave all hell that came his way. Sparrow shrugged, helping Pintel row, as I was shivering next to Ragetti.

"James Norrington is a brave man," Elizabeth said from behind me. She, too, was looking at his fading figure headed for his doom.

"Aye, but brave or not, we'll never see him again," Sparrow sighed. I glared at him with as much hatred as I could muster and kicked his shin with force. He made gasping, pathetic noises.

"He's more than twice the man you'll ever," I spat at him. "You think because you steal, plunder, pillage, _kill_, that you are brave? As if you'd ever do something as worthy as that. James risked _all_ for us, just to make sure that you - you lying sack of _horse shit _- could make it out of that fiasco alive! You don't even have the decency to remorse about his possible death! What the _hell_ is _wrong_ with you? Have you no heart?"

The entire sea was quiet as we rode, until the world caught up and the splashing of oars against water and lapping of it against the wooden sides was heard.

He didn't respond. He just stared at the floor with an expression unreadable. Ragetti and Pintel both seemed to be staring at me in awe, and Pintel had even stopped rowing until Elizabeth shouted, "Do you want them to catch us?"

Once we reached the ship, we all climbed aboard, Elizabeth first and then I second, followed by the rest, and the two deckhands hauling up William. They placed him on the floor of the ship and walked away. I plopped down onto the stairs.

And James was the only thing on my mind.

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	7. The Kraken

**Longest chapter, a bit rushed, but I think it's okay :) Enjoy!**

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I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. I ha-

Damn telepathic communication. Why can't you exist?

I stopped looking at Jack - pardon, _Sparrow_ - to glance somewhere else, hopefully shift some of my grief so I wouldn't wallow forever. And for the millionth time, my thoughts went to James.

It wasn't like I was purposely reeling him into my mind. He just kept popping up, like Jack - dammit_, Sparrow _- did for everything else. And we weren't far away from that island he had so willingly died for us on. I expected he'd be lying somewhere in that lush forest, fighting to save the chest and himself from the deadly creatures who worked for Jones.

"Where's the commodore?" Gibbs asked Jack - _mother fucking_…lets just call him Jack from now on, okay? - as he strode upwards.

"Fell behind," he replied simply. Gibbs paused.

"My prayers be with him," he breathed, then looked pleasant and upbeat, following Jack up the stairs. "Best not wallow in our grief! The bright side is, you're back and made it off free and clear!"

On the starboard side of the _Black Pearl_, the loudest splashing made everyone turn. I, too, looked towards where the ruckus was emitted. Emerging from the sea was a huge ship, much the same size as ours, but terrifying. Huge pieces of wood, splintery and sharp, were at the front looking like a strange shark-like creature.

The deck was covered in even more of those fish people. They were screaming at us, their fanged mouths snarling. Davy Jones, the tallest, buffest, and most tentacley of them all, was smirking and standing still.

I was so mesmerised by the sight of them all that I almost didn't hear Jack call out at them, "OI! Fish face!" Jones turned to look at him.

"Lose something?" he asked in a yell. I saw that he was holding above his head his jar of dirt I'd gotten from the back of Tia's shack. "Hey! I - _OOF_!"

Somehow, he'd fallen. Down a flight of stairs. Thankfully, not the ones I was on. Everyone made sounds of sympathy. I cringed at the loud thump he made when he hit the floor.

He held up the jar of dirt so Jones could see it. "Got it!" he hollered. He stood up and began to strut across the deck. "Come to negotiate, eh, have you, you slimy git? Look what I got." He began to sing, "I got a jar of dirt! I got a jar of dirt! And guess what's inside it?"

Jones spun around and I faintly heard him over the roar of the ocean say, "Enough!"

I felt my heart jump into my throat and I slowly stood up as the cannons peeked out of their holes, ready to fire. _Oh my God_, I thought helplessly.

"Hard to starboard?" Jack muttered in the same tone. Elizabeth repeated his phrase loudly and suddenly, everyone was up. I rushed around, trying to figure out what to do. Ragetti grabbed my arm and handed me a rope that Cotton and Marty were attached to. I began to pull with strength I hoped I had and watched as the sails billowed larger than before.

_Majestic_, I thought. _Truly majestic_.

Everything became a blur. A blur of dark colors, gun smoke, and screams. Cannonballs were barely dodged multiple times. I shoved Jack out of the way of an oncoming shard of wood, landing on top of him. He stared at my pale face for a moment.

The world went quiet. The guns seemed to slow. There was no sound except the softest of whizzing from a far distance. My eyelids began to droop and my head lolled slowly.

"EMBERLYNN!"

I opened my eyes wide and saw Ragetti getting tossed away by Pintel. I looked back at Jack and quickly rose to get away from this awkward position.

"They're falling behind!" Elizabeth screamed gleefully. Gibbs nodded.

"Aye! And we got her!"

"We're the faster?" William asked.

"Against the wind, the _Dutchman _beats us," Gibbs explained. "That's how she takes her prey. But _with _the wind!"

I looked back and saw that, indeed, the _Flying Dutchman _was slowing down, now many feet away. My entire being erupted with joy and relief. We had nothing to worry. It would all be alright.

"My father is on that ship," William urgently told Jack a moment or so later. "If we can outrun her, we can take her. We should turn and fight!"

"Why fight when you can negotiate?" Jack responded lazily. He placed his jar of dirt on the edge of the ship leading towards the deck. "All one needs is the proper leverage."

The boat suddenly shook violently. I nearly fell backwards over the side of the _Black Pearl_. I heard a deafening smash and turned to see many shards of dirty glass lying on the deck with sand surrounding it.

Jack let out a pitiful sound and rushed down the staircase, pushing some guys out of his way. He knelt down beside the sand and began to sift through it with his hands. Frantically, he turned his head around.

"Where is it?" I heard him mumble. "Where's the thump-thump?"

Some crewman screamed, "We must've hit a reef!"

But William shook his head. "No. It's not a reef!" He caught Elizabeth and I gazing over the edge, and ran towards us, grabbing us and pulling us back. "Get away from the rail!"

"What is it?" I asked, startled, not looking at him.

"The Kraken."

Jack immediately sat up, visibly paling. I leaned farther over the railing, watching the light sea rumble loudly. Everyone began to move again while I just stood. Slowly, I saw the tip of something large and scaly creep up the side of the ship. As it came closer, I began to back away, afraid.

It was a tentacle. An enormous tentacle that was gently swaying on its own accord.

Everyone was dead quiet, and then suddenly, William screamed, "FIRE!"

Cannons roared and sharp spears were flown at the many tentacles. I grabbed a pistol and began to shoot it at every suction cup. They gradually lowered back into the depths, looking wounded.

Yet I knew it wasn't over. No matter how loud the cheering was. No matter how much I wished we could just sail away and forget about it, I knew it wasn't over.

Once again reaching over the edge of the boat, I stared at the shadows. William, too, believed that this wasn't finished with. He started to order crewmen to load all the gunpowder into a net that would be raised above everyone's heads.

I went below and helped put the vats of powder down. Halfway through, a French-sounding man complained, "We are short stocked on gunpowder! Six barrels!"

Gibbs ran upstairs worried, but met William and told him of our trouble. His immediate answer was, "Then load the rum!"

Every man looked depressed. More depressed than I'd ever seen them. Finally, after the deafening silence, Gibbs cried, "Aye, the rum, too!" and made a sad sound.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, "HALLELUJAH!" while placing the crates beside me.

Several guys helped me out of the lower decks and I grabbed my pistol from the deck. While I passed the side of the ship, my eyes caught something in the distance. Something small and familiar. Something with long black dreadlocks.

Jack.

He'd ditched us.

"YOU COWARDLY, LOWLIFE BASTARD!" I screamed at him in rage. This was beyond bad. This was mortifyingly horrific. I aimed a shot at him and watched I pass his head.

The ship was jarred again and I fell onto a drunken black man lying passed out with a cross around his neck. With anger, I tossed him overboard and watched him fall to his death, except that the moment he hit the surface, over eight large bluish green tentacles shot out and stuffed themselves into the ship.

I could hear the cracking and splintering of wood and I ran to help lift the net of gunpowder. Marty made some room for me. I began to shove forward with every ounce of anger and frustration I had towards Jack, towards Tia, towards the damned Kraken.

An gigantic tentacle wrapped itself around the mast and I scurried off with the utmost fright as it slammed itself onto the deck, breaking the turning mechanism. William was dangling from the net of gunpowder and I could just barely see Elizabeth aiming a rifle at the barrels.

The Kraken slid around our feet, knocking us all down. I climbed up the slippery stairs and tried to stand to no avail. My feet wouldn't work. I was scared.

_Why, Tia? Do you hate me? Do you want to see me die a bloody death, unloved, unwanted, without anything to my name but an old pair of boots and a stained shift? What the fuck is wrong with you?_

And then, something happened. I saw Jack standing at the top of the staircase, Elizabeth clinging to his leg, the rifle in his hands. He shut one eye and aimed the rifle skilfully at the barrels that had many Kraken tentacles around it.

He shot it. It all happened in slow motion in my mind. The ball rolled out through the air, whistling, and then hit a barrel of powder dead on.

An explosion unexplainably loud and glorious emitted. The Kraken's arms were burnt, charred, nearly raw, and I could hear a sound much like a dog in pain only maximized greatly beneath us. The feeler helplessly swayed back and forth before dropping into the water. I still couldn't move or breathe.

A sharp pain hit my arm. I looked down, gasping, and saw that a burning piece of wood had come in contact with my lower left arm. I quickly smacked it away and tenderly touched my red flesh.

"Did we kill it?" Marty asked quietly. He was looking over the edge. Gibbs next to him shook his head.

"No. We've just made it angry. We're not out of this yet." He turned to Jack with begging in his eyes. "Cap'n, orders?"

"Abandon ship," he told Gibbs simply. "Into the longboat." Gibbs looked shocked.

"But Jack, the _Pearl_," he breathed.

Jack turned to Gibbs, yet I felt his gaze upon me. "She's only a ship, mate," he replied quietly.

"He's right," Elizabeth agreed. "We have to head for land."

"It's a lot of open water," Pintel complained. Ragetti repeated the statement.

William shook his head. "We have to try. We can get away while it takes down the _Pearl_." Ruefully, Gibbs nodded in agreement.

"Abandon ship," he told them. "Abandon ship or abandon hope."

The few of us who remained - Elizabeth, William, Gibbs, Marty, Ragetti, and Pintel - began to load up the longboat with rifles and leftover gunpowder. I rose quietly, holding onto my aching arm.

"Thank you," I whispered to Jack. He turned around, looking mildly surprised.

"We aren't free yet, love," he told me quietly. I shook my head at him.

"No. Just…you came back." He looked into my eyes, searching for something. I felt his fingers graze over my arm and I hissed in pain. He looked down at the wound, ripped off a bit of his off-white shirt, and wrapped it around my forearm. I tried to protest, but he ignored me.

"I tried, you know," he told me, not looking at me. "To get away from all this pirate madness. It's too damn difficult."

I nodded at him and watched his black smudged fingers tie. "I know. I screamed to you." I chuckled at the memory.

"Yes, I'm afraid that the people in Russia didn't hear you though." I threw back my head and let out the most strained laugh ever. He smiled at me. "You should smile more often, love," he told me. I bit my lip.

"You know, Elizabeth once told me, 'That Jack Sparrow is a good man. Underneath all that male bravado, their lies a heart'." He finished tying the makeshift bandage. "I thought she was just horny and desperate."

He smiled with regret. "You hate me," was all he muttered. I pondered that. Not an hour ago, I had been trying to telepathically tell him just that.

"No," I finally decided. "You're a right pain in the arse, and I sometimes wish you'd jump off a cliff…" I felt him come close to me. "But I don't hate you." The warmth of his dry body radiated over me. I felt in the same position as last time.

Only now, a part of me enjoyed it.

And then, he was kissing me. His mouth, tasting of rum and salty air, trickled over my senses, making me shiver with delight. His lips were rough and his cheeks were unshaven, yet it just brought out my inner pirate.

Slowly, we backed up until we were against the mast. The kiss was hungry, imploring. I felt a pair of eyes on the back of my head. I almost didn't go through with the short plan in my head.

But my hands did. I grabbed the rusty metal shackle connected to a chain and the mast and while he was weak and vulnerable, I stuck it on. He stopped kissing me and just breathed into my mouth as we were only millimetres apart. I saw his mouth curve into a smile.

"I don't hate you either," he breathed. I shook my head.

"The Kraken wants you," I told him, begging. "Not us. Not the damn ship. It wants you. This is the only way." My eyes began to well up. I couldn't let him see me cry. I backed away, letting his hand drop from my damp hair.

"I still don't hate you."

It was too much. I hurried down the ladder leading to the longboat, not daring to look back in fear that I would give in and let him free. But I couldn't. If I did, this whirlpool of hell would go on and on. I needed everyone to be safe.

It was for the greater good

Will followed me, and then Elizabeth. He looked at her with jealousy and a strange, dark knowing. "Where's Jack?" he asked her. She looked confused.

"He volunteered to stay behind," I muttered. Everyone but Ragetti looked up, as he put his jacket over my shoulders, and then his arm. I began to cry into the sleeves.

Once were a ways away, we watched together as the Kraken slowly, painfully, took down the _Pearl_, and her captain.

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**Sadness ensues :( Well, there's more**

**All of At World's End, as well as the last chapter of Dead Man's Chest. Stayed tuned, and review!**


	8. Back To The Shack

**Shortest, I think, but it's the final chapter of Dead Man's Chest!**

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Ragetti didn't take his jacket when we stopped at Tia Dalma's shack. He only patted my shoulders and went to take a seat. I huddled into it's damp warmth, backed up into a corner, and slid down the wall. I felt as though I would cry, but nothing came out. I was dehydrated of tears.

Tia walked in leisurely, looking solemn as the rest of us, yet I could just barely see a twinkle behind those heavily lidded eyes. Something she knew about and we would all soon find out.

The only sounds were my heavy breathing, William chucking his knife into the table repeatedly, and Tia's footsteps. She stopped at Elizabeth first and whispered something for only her to hear, then handed her a drink. She did the same with William.

"The Pearl's gone, along with it's captain," William sighed. I sniffed in an unladylike fashion.

"Aye," Gibbs replied. "And already the world seems a bit less bright. He fooled us all right to the end. But I guess that honest streak finally won out." Tia handed me a cup which I placed next to my ankles, not drinking it. "To Jack Sparrow!"

"Never another like Cap'n Jack," Ragetti offered, looking sad.

"He was a gentleman of fortune, he was," Pintel added.

"He was a good man," Elizabeth breathed quietly.

"He was…Jack." I felt the words spill out of my mouth, lulling them to look back at the small, squished up figure in the corner.

They all drank, but I let my cup remain on the floor. Nothing would ever fill me again in the way that he had. I wasn't about to attempt to fill that void.

When we had sailed in through the Pantano River, the villagers had been around us in the water, letting the still water lap around their waists. I'd recognized some of them from runs into the market, and they looked surprised at the sight of me. But like all folk from around here, they kept their mouths shut and just looked depressed.

Tia had welcomed us in and not said a single word to me alone. The most she'd done was run her chocolate hand across my shoulders as I passed her.

I put my head into my knees, watching the blackness swirl around me. It was enjoyable. But I was still cold, empty.

"If there was anything could be done to bring him back," I heard William begin. "_Elizabeth_…"

"Would you do it? Hmm?" Tia asked, cutting over him. There was a hidden tone behind her words. This wasn't going to go anywhere good.

Then again, after weeks on a ship…maybe my perspective had changed.

Maybe this _would _be good.

"What would you?" she went on. "Hmm? What would _any _of you be willing to do, hmm? Would you sail to de ends of de eart' and beyond to fetch back witty Jack and 'im precious _Pearl_?"

There was a strange silence before Gibbs said loudly, "Aye!"

"Aye!" Pintel roared.

"Aye!" Ragetti added.

"Yes," Elizabeth muttered.

"Aye," William mumbled.

I was the only one who had remained quiet. I heard Tia's gentle footsteps against her shack's floors and then a creak in front of me. I looked up and saw her kneeling just an inch or two away.

"Would you, Emberlynn?" she asked quietly. I shot her a weak scathing look.

"You tell me," I snapped in a scratchy voice. "You seem to be able to read me like an open book. What do I want to do?"

She smiled gently, showing her many silver and black teeth. "Dat is for you to decide on yer own, _my chile_," she sighed back.

I watched her dark orbs that remained so calm, though the egging on and closing in of ecstasy and excitement were evident. I searched her gaze for some kind of help, but came up empty. So I gave my honest answer.

"Yes please."

She stood and said breathily, "Alright. But if you're goin' brave de weird and haunted shores at world's end, den…you will need a captain who knows dose waters."

And with a turn, there was gentle thumping coming from up her hollow stairs. I slowly rose, using Ragetti's arm as leverage, to come closer and see who in fact was coming towards us, who would captain us to return Jack to the land of the living.

He was tall. Bulky, too, but in a rugged, handsome, pirate-y way. A scraggly beard hung from his chin. A monkey was on his shoulder, dressed in clothing. His eyes were the darkest of gray-blues I'd ever seen and a hat large as a carriage wheel was on his head. He smiled a bit.

"So tell me," he began. That cliché pirate voice. "What's become of my ship?" He took a bite of a ripe green apple, letting the juice flow down his chin. He let out a laugh as his monkey emitted a squeal.

I leaned towards Elizabeth.

"Who's that?"

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	9. Singapore

**At World's End!**

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Barbossa made a shushing motion with his finger, then curled it towards him. I nodded, shoving my pistol into my belt. My stare never remained too long on anyone or anything, in case some nosey busybody decided to be suspicious. I didn't want to kill anyone. Yet.

"Dangerous song to be singing," the echo of Tai Huang said to who we hoped was Elizabeth. Barbossa began to slowly, quietly, make his way down the stone steps. "For anyone ignorant of it's meaning. Particularly a woman. Particularly a woman _alone_." I gagged to myself.

"What makes you think she's alone?" he asked once he was in view. I stood a step above, yet I was still shorter than he was. My hand was an inch from my pistol in case it was needed.

"You protect her?" a Chinese man dripping of sweat asked him. Elizabeth quickly unsheathed her dagger and pushed it against his throat. Tai Huang's men aimed their own pistols at her.

"And what makes you think I need protecting?" she asked menacingly. Tai Huang looked surprised.

Barbossa cleared his throat. "Your master's expectin' us, and an unexpected death would cast a slight pall on our meetin'." Elizabeth pulled the knife away and held her hands up in surrender.

The voices of military men were heard and we backed up against the dirty stone wall, trying to blend into it. Tai Huang began to lead our group of six through an alleyway near the water. Being last, I gave the area one last check and then scurried behind them all.

We stepped along the grimy floor covered in puddles of warm sea water. The walls were covered in rocks that implanted themselves there on purpose. Blood was mixed onto the concrete that held them together. I cringed at the thought of how this city was built, with brutality and slavery.

"Have you heard anything from Will?" Elizabeth asked us both, her hat behind her neck. She was still lovely, even under the dark, overheated temple roof. Her face contemptuous like the other women and dressed in garb appropriate for Singapore, she looked as though she belonged there, aside from her fair complexion and flaxen hair.

I shook my head as Barbossa replied, "I trust young Turner to acquire the charts, and you to remember your place in the presence of Cap'n Sao Feng." He looked at me and added, "You as well."

"Is he that terrifying?" I inquired mockingly. He smiled with a hint of regret and amusement.

"He's much like myself, but absent to my merciful nature and sense of fair play." I let out a snort, ignoring the disgusted looks the many tan, dark haired women dressed in long, revealing skirts and shaking fans gave me.

Tai Huang knocked three times and a slit at eyelevel opened. "_Hoi_," he told the person behind the door blatantly. The slit closed and the large wooden door creaked open. We all piled inside.

"Remove all weaponry," Tai Huang ordered. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my extremely visible pistol, as well as a dagger I had tucked away in my boot. Surprisingly enough, that was all I was carrying.

Elizabeth stepped forward, ready to enter the lair, but Tai Huang held out his hand.

"You think because she is a woman we would not suspect her of treachery?" he asked Barbossa, looking insulted. Barbossa smiled at him.

"Well, when you put it that way…"

Tai Huang looked at Elizabeth. "Remove. Please."

With bitterness, she began to untie her hat from around her neck. I watched in shock as she removed her jacket to reveal a vest covered in pistols. A bomb came from her pocket, and she paused to reach back and pull out a large cannon from her shoe. I gazed at the small ballet flat in shock.

Sighing, I added with a bit of impatience, "Are we set, then?" Barbossa aimed a stomp at my foot, but I removed it quickly and kicked his calf in return. He groaned in pain.

"Both ladies. Remove. _Please_." His tone was sickly sweet. I glared at him, shocked.

"But I've nothing to hide!" I protested. Barbossa shot me an urging look and I sighed and rose my arms to shoulder height. One of Tai Huang's men reached under my cropped poet's shirt and felt up my sides, then went down my short-donned legs. I hissed at him once or twice and finally, he backed away. I smiled at Tai Huang. "Happy?"

"Ecstatic," he replied solemnly, though a look of satisfied glee lurked behind him. I sighed and waited for the dressing screens to move.

After the perverts also checked Elizabeth, we were allowed entry. I walked behind both Barbossa and Elizabeth, feeling uncomfortable. Men of the same ethnicity as Tai Huang, many large and soaking in tubs, eyed us with evil intentions. The women, smooth and slim, were fanning them. It was a sweltering sauna that reeked of oriental leaves.

A roly-poly fellow turned to his right and Barbossa stopped Elizabeth and I near an extremely steamy area where two women - the most dressed, might I add - and a tall, bald man were. The man turned slowly, his arms raised.

He was like every other man in Singapore. Darker in skin texture, having almost no hair, and wearing a kimono like outfit. He had dark whiskers protruding from his chin and either side of his upper lip. Scars were next to his left eye.

Barbossa bowed deeply and motioned for us to follow. I did, but not much, my eyes never leaving him. He had an arrogant and yet somehow humble air about him.

"Captain Barbossa," he said, his accent thick. "Welcome to Singapore." He sniffed a red cloth in his hand and told the girl on his right, "More steam."

She nodded and pulled a rock hanging from the ceiling down. Almost instantaneously, more steam surrounded us.

"I understand that you have a…_request _to make of me," he informed Barbossa. The much hairier man smiled a bit.

"More of a proposal to put to ye," he replied. "I've a venture underway and I find myself in need of a ship and crew."

Sao Feng ran his long nails over his bald head. "It's an odd coincidence."

"Because you happen to have a ship and a crew you don't need?" I asked hopefully. Barbossa glared at me.

"No," Sao Feng replied. "Because earlier this day, not far from here, a thief broke into my most revered uncle's temple and tried to make off with these." He held up rolled up charts. "The navigational charts. The route to the farthest gate." He tossed the charts to Tai Huang. "Wouldn't it be amazing if this venture of yours took you to the world beyond this one?"

"It would strain credulity at that," Barbossa said. Sao Feng smiled at us, then turned and nodded at two men near a tub.

They yanked a large piece of bamboo out of it and I watched in shock as William's body emerged. He was soaking wet and gasping for air, sputtering out water.

"This is the thief," Sao Feng told us. "Is his face familiar to you?" We all shook our heads. I felt Elizabeth's heartbeat from a foot away. He pulled out a stake. "Then I guess he has no further need for it." He grabbed the back of his neck and made to stab him in the chin with it.

But Elizabeth let out a gasp. Sao Feng stopped, looking back at her. She slowly lowered her hands from her mouth.

"So, you come into my city, and you betray my hospitality!"

"Sao Feng, I assure you, I had no idea -"

"That he would get _caught_!" Many of the men rose from their lukewarm water, looking at us. "You intend to attempt a voyage to Davy Jones' Locker, but I cannot help but wonder why?"

Barbossa looked at him strenuously, then tossed something at Sao Feng. He caught it easily and held it to his ear. There was a ringing and I looked at the piece of silver. It was small, circular, thin, and had engravings covering it.

"The song has been sung," Barbossa told him solemnly. "The time is upon us. We must convene the Brethren Court. As one of the nine pirate lords, you must honour the call." Sao Feng closed his filthy hands around the coin.

"More steam," was all he said. The girl pulled down the rock, yet nothing happened. He repeated himself loudly. She tried again, and thankfully, it rose around us. "There's a price on all our heads, it is true. Since it seems that the only way a pirate can turn a profit anymore is by betraying other pirates…"

"The first Brethren Court gave us the rule of the seas. That rule has been challenged by Lord Cutler Beckett."

"Against the East India Trading Company, what value is the Brethren Court? What can any of us do?" Elizabeth looked exceptionally angry.

"You can fight!" she said loudly, shaking off a man who tried to hold her back. "You are Sao Feng, the pirate lord of Singapore!" She went on for a short while, finishing with, "Would you have that era come to an end on your watch? The most notorious pirates from around the world are uniting against our enemy, and yet you sit here, cowering in your bath water!"

Sao Feng stepped forward, his gaze lingering on her for a moment. I reached towards her arm and pulled her back so she wouldn't get the same threat William did. "_Don't_," I warned her, then glared at Sao Feng. He turned to me instead.

"Who are you, again?" he asked quietly.

"Emberlynn," I replied coldly.

"And you…_agree _with Barbossa's plan too, Emberlynn?"

I shrugged. "Perhaps."

"I have not neglected to notice that you have not answered my question! What is it you seek in Davy Jones' Locker?"

"Jack Sparrow," William said loudly, speaking for the first time. The girls behind Sao Feng giggled. "He's one of the pirate lords."

"The only reason," Sao Feng began, anger building up. "I would want Jack Sparrow to return from the land of the dead…is so I can send him back myself!" In his fury, he kicked down some sort of stand.

Barbossa came right up to him. "Jack Sparrow has one of the nine pieces of eight. He failed to pass it along to a successor before he died. So we must go and get him back!"

Sao Feng looked away from Barbossa and towards a Chinese boy just in front of him. He grinned maliciously, angrily.

"So," he said cruelly, "You admit you have deceived me. _Weapons_!"

Everyone in the joint pulled out some sort of cutlass, pistol, or stake. We backed up and I made sure that I was standing over cracks in the floor. I knew what was coming.

"Sao Feng, I assure you, our intentions are strictly honourable!" Barbossa cried, and swords flew up. I just barely caught my two and was thankful I did, as the tattooed men all looked lethal.

Sao Feng grabbed the boy and held his cutlass to his throat. "Drop your weapons! Or I kill the man!"

We waited, looking around awkwardly. "Kill him, he's not our man," I replied snappily. Everyone became suddenly tense.

"If he's not with you," William said slowly, "And he's not with us, then who's he with?"

Silence, until down came the doors and uniformed men charged in. I watched as gun smoke filled the air and a blade came close to my neck, but I blocked it. The thickset man covered in mildew slapped me upside the head, making my hair fall out more so than it already was, and left a long trail of blood down my stomach, ripping the bottom of m shirt a bit.

I glared at him, and chopped him in the arm, making him wail in pain. He looked furious and screamed in Chinese at a few others. They all came onto me, and I was soon barricaded by them. Swords flew around me, nearly chopping off my limbs.

Somehow, I managed to get out of that with only the long cut down my stomach. Tai Huang turned out to be okay and he let us onto a ship of his.

* * *

**Another one! I'm zipping through these. If you please, review. I know it's rushed, but c'mon!**


	10. Trust

**Another chapter for my lovely readers who - for some bizarre reason - stick by this fanfiction :)**

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We sailed for what felt like an eternity. Days went by, weeks, even, but I barely noticed. All I seemed to do was eat, sleep, and sail. The navigational charts we had somehow managed to attain were another big part of everyone's lives, as each of us had spent by now at least an hour each day pouring over it.

It was maddeningly recondite. No one made any sense of it. We spun the wheels over and over again, coming up empty and only managing to match up slivers of painted pictures on it. According to Tai Huang, it wasn't as accurate as modern charts, but it led to more places.

We reached some place where the air nipped at you in such a fashion that you were red as though pinched in that place. My hair was frozen in a permanent braid that could be undone but remained in three parts when separated. I still only wore my white cropped poets top that revealed my belly and the long scar that ran down it and my shorts and boots. Every night, I'd freeze under Ragetti's jacket.

I gingerly wrapped my thinly covered arms around my knees, placing my chin on the caps of them. My gaze was on the charts for the thousandth time as William spun them slowly, shaking violently. His eyebrows were lined with frost and his cheeks were the color of a cherry.

"Nothing here is set," he murmured. I watched his white breath swirl around before dissolving. The speaking tone wasn't a choice. No one was able to speak too loudly anymore, we were all too cold.

"Is that such a bad thing?" I proposed. He looked at me, a bit confused. "Modern maps made by 'geographers' lead to places known to man. This one lets you take off to someplace unknown. It'll help us. I'm sure of it."

He turned back to the circles and spun them slowly. I noticed words being formed and stopped him. "'Over the edge. Over again'," I repeated. He spun them again and new ones became whole at the bottom. "'Sunrise sets. Flash of green'."

I looked at him before rising, snatching the charts, and walking towards Barbossa at the head. I saw Elizabeth curled up under a thin, raggedy blanket as dark as my skin was pale. I tossed Barbossa the charts and said, "D'you care to interpret, _captain_?"

He opened them, read the words, and gazed at William with a look of earnest. I walked behind him and sat down to huddle under the rag with Elizabeth. She handed me a small folded paper with shaking fingers. I immediately recognized it as a letter from the chest James Norrington, Jack, her, and I had come across. The lovely wording on the cover read 'My Sweet Calypso'.

Trembling, I unfolded the cracked parchment and began to read, blocking out the background music of voices.

_My Sea,_

_It is difficult. Being away from you like this is unbearable. My heart feels ready to plummet into the ocean, never to be heard from again. Then again, you would have it if it did._

_Life on the sea is rough. The crew are hard-working, doing well enough. I often lock myself in my cabin and piteously scribble our letters to you, never sending them. They are worse than this, all mushy and loving. I know you detest that talk. Thus, why I haven't sent you them._

_But I have to see you. I know I've years to go. I know my duty. I haven't forgotten. And my job has been fine. The souls I carriage to the other side are hard-working folk all worth their salt. But I need to see you. Hold you close. Love you._

_Calypso, you are my everything. You hold the key to my life. You are and always will be the sea, the only thing I love and ever will love. I loved the sea before I met you. I love it more so know that I know it is you. You tantalize me so well, make me beg, and I adore every moment of our time together._

_Take me back, Calypso. I wish to be with you. For more than twenty-four damned hours. That isn't enough. So much we could see, so much we could do. Why can't you come with me?_

_Love always from the Mediterranean Sea,_

_Davy Jones_

I stared at the words again, completely in shock. This was beautiful. Slight drivel, perhaps, but every word had passion. Passion I knew not of. He loved her, once. Whether he still did, keeping his promise to her being 'the only thing he loves and ever will love', was beyond me.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Elizabeth sighed from beside me. I looked at her flawless face and saw she was smiling weakly. "I wish I could write like that."

"Be careful what you wish for, or you just might get it," I replied, leaning my head back onto the rail. She laughed a bit.

"You're one to talk." I looked at her oddly. "Come off it. I've read your work. It's much better than this nonsense Jones speaks of in his letters to Calypso."

I shook my head. "Don't kid yourself," I muttered bitterly. I tried to keep my gaze in front of me. "You have so much going on for you. Beauty. Health. A man who loves and respects you. A brain."

"All that may be true, but I haven't got half of the heart, character, _soul _that you do. And you _are _beautiful, Emberlynn. Don't forget that."

I looked into her eyes, not catching a hint of doubt. Tears threatened to spill over and I wrapped my freezing arms around her, pushing our cheeks together. She laughed again.

"You're odd, Emberlynn, I'll give you that. But you're perfect."

* * *

Elizabeth fell asleep early enough. Everyone else was finishing dinner and we were still huddling under the blanket when I felt her head loll to the side and her breathing even out. I tucked the sheet around her limp frame and walked off, no longer shivering.

Somehow, in only a few hours, we had descended from freezing point and were at a slightly warmer, more enjoyable climate. I smiled at the boys who were rinsing their dirty dishes with a filthy, grimy rag and boiled water_. At least they attempted to be clean._

William was sitting at the other end of the ship. He looked drawn, tired, but in a different way from the rest of us. Almost emotionally.

"Alright there, Turner?" I asked quietly. He jumped a bit at the sound of my voice and smiled fleetingly before becoming quiet again. I made my way towards him, leaning against the rail and looking across the darkening sky.

"What's bothering you?" He didn't look at me. "Ever since we left Jack you've been unusually sullen. You haven't spoken to Elizabeth once in my memory."

He looked to his right, away from me, then hit his fist against he wood and turned so his back was towards the sea.

"Why would she need me when she's got Jack to rescue?" he asked with a bit of cruelty. I shrugged, repeating his motion of turning.

"Because she loves you."

"Don't bet on it."

I bored my eyes into his skull. "What makes you say that?"

"She kissed him. Just before we left the _Pearl_. I saw it," he said blatantly.

My body swelled with guilt. This wasn't about Elizabeth. Well, it was, but the blame was pushed on her, since we looked similar from the back. So he thought that it was Elizabeth who Jack had snogged so heavily.

I shook at the memory.

"You're positive it was Elizabeth?" I asked hopefully.

"Who else could it be?"

"Well, did you see her face?"

He shook his head. "No, just her…hair…" He trailed off, looking at me in a new light. His eyes fell upon my own tightly wound up locks that were only a hue lighter than Elizabeth's, though much longer. "_Oh_."

"Oh," I repeated, smiling ruefully. "Yes. Elizabeth did not kiss Jack."

"But you did."

I stared down at my shoes, trying not to remember the scene. It was burnt into the back of my mind, white-hot, still tender to the touch. Every time I looked at the bandage made of his shirt that was still on my arm, the tears threatened to spill over my eyelids. I could still taste him on my lips.

Rum and salty air.

"Yes," I breathed. "Yes, I did."

"Did you mind?" he asked, sceptical. I smiled a bit.

"I'd like to say yes," I slowly muttered. "But no."

He leaned against his arms, standing up and in front of me. He crossed his arms, scrutinizing me. I mocked him by doing the same movements.

"Do you love him?"

"That was blunt."

He chuckled. "You didn't answer the question. Which means you're avoiding it. Which means that you do."

"Now you sound like him," I snapped, beginning to walk away. He followed me closely, all the while trying to show himself.

"You compare others to him," he continued. "He's always on your mind. You're infatuated. Next you'll be interpreting him into your work, although I question why you do love him."

"I never said I loved him!" I nearly screamed. He smiled.

"Defending him, too."

I groaned and fell onto a crate, my head between my knees. He plopped down next to me.

"Why are you so interested in whether I fancy Jack or not?" I asked, half-muffled. I felt his hand on my back, rubbing the clothed part.

"I just don't want more people to get hurt because of him," he replied quietly. I looked up.

"What are you saying?" William paused, staring at his hands.

"Let's just say we've not always gotten along," he breathed. When I didn't stop looking at him, he went on with an explanation. "When we first met, he had threatened Elizabeth and beaten me in a swordfight through treacherous techniques. I only came to get him because Barbossa took her away. He planned all the way through to give me to them to end a curse placed upon the entire crew. It was my blood needed to end it, so he figured, 'Hey, what the hell? Give the whelp away, who needs him?'" He let out a bitter laugh. "I still hate him."

"I don't," I muttered. He'd said he hadn't hated me. Even after I left him to die, he didn't hate me. Or was he lying?

And would this plan even work? Going to Davy Jones' Locker to retrieve him, although the charts are screwed up and no one made anything of them except earlier today, might very well end our lives as we know them.

But…maybe I'd get to see Jack again if I did die.

* * *

**Ending, for now. I realllly loved a certain review I recieved that was a full paragraph. Those are what make me smile the biggest and brightest! So review up readers!**


	11. Over The Edge

**Another chapter, readers!**

* * *

**EMBERLYNN POV**

I pulled Ragetti's coat sleeves over my hands, wearing it out of habit more than need. He had officially given it to me and when he had said so, I'd squeezed him tightly, an embrace I had long forgotten about.

The dark sky, filled with an unimaginable number of twinkling stars, reflected off of the equally black water. You couldn't tell what was above land and what was below. I watched the ripples the _Hai Peng _made curl along the surface of the water. It looked like silk. If I so desired, I could reach down and touch it's honeyed skin.

Barbossa stood a few feet away from me, proud and slightly arrogant. He hadn't a care in his mind. I didn't know what was coming. Just that Tia Dalma - did I mention she was with us? Well, she was - predicted earlier that day that we would soon come across our intended destination.

I could only hope to believe her.

He pulled out a bottle of rum from his pocket and took a long swig of it. My eyes studied his every move from pure boredom. He was a fascinating character. His movements were all exact, not with much passion but only purpose. When he did become fervent about something, he took long steps, moved around with ease. Everything about him was firm, in it's place. Nothing scared him.

Except, perhaps, a rum drought.

"Tell me of where we're headed, Captain Barbossa," I said confidently. He barely glanced at me, instead placing his foot on a crate and leaning on his knee.

"It be a large place, I shan't kid you on that," he began forwardly. Not a trace of shock at my question or untruthfulness lied in his words. "Hot as the Devil's home, drier than the Sahara in the summertime. Not but two pirates have been known to escape the place of punishment, and both are still haunted by the memories that'll stay with them forever. Never has a man been more desperate to leave a place in his life than those who shall perpetually inhabit Davy Jones Locker."

I shivered at the thought. It seemed just the type of place a psycho like Jones would create to make his victims suffer. And the way Barbossa described it was truly remarkable.

"Have you ever been?" I asked, curiosity heavy in my voice. He chortled.

"No, my dear," he replied. "I just…_know_."

I nodded, taking this as all the explanation needed. I honestly didn't care too much where we were going. If this land of Satan held Jack, that was all I cared about.

"Barbossa!" William cried, coming towards the captain with a look of fear. "Ahead!"

"Aye," Barbossa said. "We're good and lost now!"

"Lost?" Elizabeth repeated shakily.

"For certain, you have to be lost to find a place that can't be found," Barbossa told her. "Else ways, everyone would know where it was."

Gibbs looked out at the front of the boat. "We're gaining speed!"

"Aye!" Barbossa agreed eagerly.

"To stations!" William said loudly. Everyone began to go to work, trying to save the ship from whatever fate it was headed towards. I currently didn't care. For some strange, twisted reason, I was serene.

Barbossa, too, didn't move from his position. He looked complacent, knowing, unfazed by the hurried movements of the crew.

"Why aren't you helping?" Elizabeth asked me while hauling a rope. She didn't sound angry, just confused and curious.

I shrugged. "I trust Barbossa," was all I told him. She looked at me in complete shock, but continued with her yanking.

"Thank ya, missy," Barbossa said from above me. I smiled a bit and hugged the coat around me tighter.

Minutes passed, filled with yells and screams. Barbossa ran towards William and told him to belay his message, to go straight and receive what was coming for us. _Couldn't change destiny_, I thought simply. The roaring of water against water made me sit up a bit straighter, then fall down the wall.

A waterfall.

We were headed for a waterfall.

I let out a piercing scream when we were suddenly tilted completely vertical. I tried to grab something, anything, and the only nearby semi-stable thing was a crate of rum. It plummeted to it's end, and so did I, until Ragetti caught my leg and was saved.

Then we hit the water.

* * *

**JACK POV**

I watched with lustful hunger as Emberlynn tossed back her head, laughing. Her hair tumbled down her back in a graceful manner, a manner no other women I had ever known possessed.

She slowly pulled her locks up, revealing her darkly colored corset ties. They were all fastened accordingly, until she slowly began to undo them. I gaped as more and more of her milky white flesh became exposed. She looked over her pale shoulder and winked at me, desire in her eyes.

"_Jack_," she sighed. I quickly stood, walking towards her. She fluttered her eyelashes at me and came closer, too.

We were, once again, mere breaths apart, and I reached to stroke her bare neck, but there seemed to be a force field that repelled me from her. Confused, I attempted to move my lips on hers, but again, the boundary was there.

"_You_!"

I turned quickly, as did Emberlynn, to see a duplicate of her. She was the same, only garbed in a much less appealing wardrobe. Ferocity was bursting from within her small stature. She raced forwards and angrily slapped me. The place burned like a bitch.

"How could you?" she shrieked. "I thought that you…you…_ARGH_!" She slapped him again.

Jack slowly began to back away from the Emberlynn's. It was odd to see one half-naked, stroking her thigh, and the other not trying at all to hide her fury. I quickly stumbled backwards over a small, shivering figure.

Emberlynn was trembling, her face streaked with tears, her bottom lip quivering. She looked so small and weak. I tried to put an arm around her in comfort, but the damned force field activated and I was unable to touch her. It seemed to affect her, too, as she screamed out in pain and moved away.

"You said you didn't hate me…" she muttered quickly, tears falling down her cheeks. "You promised me…you didn't hate me…but why did you hurt me…"

"Emberlynn…love…" I tried to reach out to her, but she yelped and crawled away underneath the stairs.

"You promised!" she yelled. "You didn't hate me!"

"I don't!" I told her forcefully.

"Then why did you hurt me?"

I breathed in through my nose. "How did I hurt you, love?" I asked pitifully. She sniffed heavily, not speaking for a minute, then held out her arm.

It still had my shirt material wrapped around it.

I attempted to touch her again, but I wasn't able - no surprise there - and she squealed in pain.

"I didn't burn you," I attempted to tell her. She shook her head incessantly.

"No…no, no…no, no, no, _NO_!" She screamed out. The sound went through me like physical pain. "No, you…you left me…"

He felt his temper rise. "Listen here, love, I didn't leave you. _You _left _me _to fend for meself against that bloody Kraken!"

"I knew it!" she yelled. "It's my fault, I knew it! I knew I shouldn't've done it! Why am I so _stupid_?" I sighed heavily and dropped down on the floor next to her. She recoiled slightly.

"Love, never think of yourself as stupid," I told her soothingly. "You are, without a single doubt in me pirate brain, the smartest, most intelligent young woman I've ever laid eyes on."

"But that doesn't absolve me of my other sins," she said, then bubbled over with tears. She leaned into her knees and blubbered continuously.

I sighed once again and rose to get away from all this drama. Lustful Emberlynn and Angry Emberlynn were both doing other things elsewhere, and I thanked my lucky stars for that. As fast as possible, I ran to the starboard side of the _Black Pearl_, took hold of a rope dangling from the sail, and swung away.

For some reason, I wasn't surprised that I hadn't landed in water. The ground beneath me was a sickly white shade and sandy. I took long strides along the beach-like floor, searching for something and nothing at the same time.

In my head, I heard her voice. Every word she had ever said to me was echoing in my nearly empty skull, bouncing off the walls and reverberating until I had nothing but them.

"_Let me see your hand."_

"_I'm just a stowaway."_

"_Don't you fucking talk about me like that. Ever. Again."_

_"So it's 'love' again, instead of 'sea monkey'?"_

"_YOU COWARDLY, LOWLIFE BASTARD!"_

"_You're a right pain in the arse, and I sometimes wish you'd jump off a cliff… But I don't hate you."_

"Why are you thinking about me?"

I spun around on my heel and looked at the voice. This Emberlynn was just as she was when we had first met. Her dark dress was draped over her lovely pale body. The many layers of dark, mismatched fabrics were hanging loosely around her waist. In her hands was a white stone.

"How did you know that?" I asked, confused. She smiled a bit.

"I just know," she replied. "And now, you are trying to figure out what is in my hands." I looked up from the stone.

"Maybe," I grumbled irritably.

"Well," she began with a chuckle, but a crack came from her palms. We both looked down as the stone began to break apart in pieces. Soon enough, it became a small, strange looking crab.

"What is that?" I asked, pointing to it.

"A crab."

"I can see that much, love, but why is there a grab in your hands?"

As I said this, the crab crawled up her arm and down her body, then scurried along the sand. Emberlynn didn't reply to my question, just smiled at me in placid contentment.

A great rumbling occurred, making me shake violently. I turned backwards and saw that the _Black Pearl_, my lovely ship, was moving.

Along the sand.

Powered by a million crabs identical to the one that had been her hands.

I looked between the ship and her over and over again until she just waved at me and I took off running after the _Pearl_.

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**My hair is all braided - thank you Allie - and I'm done with this chapter, HURRAH! Review!**


	12. In The Locker

**Again, this chapter gets a little bit touchy-feely, but nothing horribly M-rated. You'll live :)**

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"_Emberlynn…" he breathed against my skin._

_I gasped in the heavy scent of him that surrounded us. His lips trailed down my chin, along my jaw line, his whiskers tickling me in the most sensuous way._

_A groan escaped me as I tried to lean farther into him. I felt his lips transform into a smirk against my neck. He swept my long hair over my shoulder, revealing my pale flesh, and took the gentlest of bites in it near my pulse point. I moaned loudly._

"_Jack…oh, please," I heard myself beg._

"_I wouldn't, love," he replied breathily, his mouth still making marks on my virgin skin. "Not by force."_

_I turned to face him. "I'm letting you. It's not force. It's willingness." I felt him shudder beneath the weight of my words._

_He grinned down at me and attacked my mouth. He tasted the same. This felt right. It was amazing._

"_I love you…" I muttered to him, and he stopped. My eyes were still half-closed as he began to back away. I tried to reach out and grab him, stop him, make him hear reason, but he just kept going until he had faded._

"_JACK!"_

* * *

The blackness suddenly stopped suffocating me. No longer did I feel stuffy and claustrophobic. I used my arms to push upwards, forwards, some place that wasn't underwater.

Oxygen was like a gift that I cherished forever, as the moment I was out of the inky depths, I my lungs filled with it. I coughed up salt water and sucked in clean air. All around me were parts of the _Hai Peng _that had somehow survived the waterfall. People were there, too, but I was so light-headed that I couldn't hear their screams. The only thing I heard was my overactive heartbeat.

Weakly, I tried to swim to shore and fight the current, with little success. But when I let my feet fall downwards, sand was under my dripping wet boots. I used the land to crawl onto the sand.

I fell down, still coughing up water and seaweed, onto the shore. The hot sand under my soaked body was unexplainably comforting. I squeezed my eyes to rid them of the damned salt, and left them shut.

In the background, almost a melody to the beat of my erratic heart, I heard others clambering onto land, too. They were all doing my actions, save for falling onto the luxurious beach and remaining there.

"This truly is a Godforsaken place," I barely heard Gibbs mutter.

"I don't see Jack," Elizabeth added. "I don't see anyone!"

Heavy footsteps against shaven gold was next, followed by Barbossa's voice stringing the words, "He's here. Davy Jones never once gave up that what he took," together to form a sentence.

"And does it matter? We're trapped here by your doing, no different than Jack." William.

I faintly heard the scurrying of claws against my sand, and then Tia saying, "Witty Jack is closer den you tink."

After that, I almost blacked out. My mind went blank. All I wanted was to relive that first part of my near-death dream. The part where we were close, holding each other, happily in love.

In my case.

For him, it was only lust.

I'd heard stories about the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow. His many travels all over the world. He was famed for both his world-class adventures and his history with lasses. It was rumoured that he'd slept with at least one woman in every city of the world. And that they all had 'unfinished business' with him. Whether that meant more sex or a roughhousing, I didn't care. I just didn't want to get mixed up in all that womanizing shit.

And who could blame those wenches for wanting a piece of him. He was _gorgeous_. With long, dark hair, beaded in the sexiest - yes, I said sexiest - way, and eyes to match, outlined with kohl liner. His body was that of a god's, slightly thickset and covered in tattoos and vicious scars. And facial hair braided on the chin and on his upper lip. He was _unbelievably _attractive.

To help my lost cause, I also wasn't much to look at. Bland blonde hair too long for my overly thin and pale body. Cursed with brownish-greenish eyes no man could love. Dressed completely distastefully in a men's pair of shorts and a cropped up poet's shirt. I was the definition of 'unappealing'. The damned pockmark that guy in Singapore gave me didn't help at all (when on him, they were sexy as hell, but only one on your midsection helped to lessen your attractiveness).

I wasn't fully sucked into reality, but I heard the running of many people somewhere there. I half-opened my eyes to view what was happening, and was shocked to see the end of the _Black Pearl _sinking into the water and floating a short ways away. The entire crew was running a few feet away to a person I couldn't see. But…

It couldn't be. And yet it had to.

"Mr. Gibbs!" His voice was faded almost. It sounded hoarse on my ears, though I knew it wasn't. I was too dazed to grasp the actuality of the situation. He was here.

"I thought so. I expect you can account for your actions, then?…There has been a perpetual and virulent lack of discipline aboard my vessel! Why? Why is that, sir?"

I knew people were speaking between each of his sentences, but all my mind seemed to be able to focus on was his words. Everyone else's words were muffled, even farther away than usual.

"I know that. I know where I am. Don't think I don't…Ah, Hector! It's been too long, hasn't it?…No I didn't. Ah, Tia Dalma, out and about, eh? You lend an agreeable sense of the macabre to any delirium…William, tell me something. Have you come because you need my help to rescue a certain distressing damsel? Or rather a damsel in distress? Either one…Then you wouldn't be here, would you? So you can't be here. Q.E.D. you're not really here!"

My figure stiffened. I suddenly knew something was different. The atmosphere had changed dramatically. He was looking at me. With those dark, mysterious eyes hiding stories of travels more terrifying than the Kraken itself. I looked back just barely, my heavy eyelashes and sand blocking my view.

More silence for a while, the rush leaving as he turned his gaze elsewhere's. I heard him pick his crew.

My stomach dropped.

The footsteps grew louder, closer, with shorter, faster ones following a short distance away. Finally I could see the fuzzy outline of his dark boot just near my face.

"And I don't want _her _anywhere near my _Pearl_," he finished. "One female is quite enough."

I felt my heart crack.

Now he hated me.

* * *

Somehow, I was pulled onboard against my will. With all my shattered heart, I just wanted to lye on that beach for weeks without anyone to speak to or hear. I just wanted to feel the cool water lap around my body at low tide and completely soak me during high tide. I just wanted to follow his orders, for once in my damned life.

"C'mon," Elizabeth told me quietly, taking one of my arms. From the rough fingers, I knew that William had taken hold of the other one.

I whined weakly. "Just let me lye." I heard William chuckle slightly.

"He's not mad at you," he assured me while dragging me out to a small dinghy. "He's mad at himself for leaving you. Trust me."

Yet I couldn't bring myself to. As I was smuggled onto the _Pearl'_s dry deck, his dark and unfeeling eyes sought me out. He held out one finger and aimed it at me.

"What. Did. I. _Say_," he menacingly asked William and Elizabeth. William stood his ground.

"Admit it, Jack, it's not Emberlynn you're unhappy with. It's yourself. It's always yourself."

Jack glared at the younger man furiously for a moment and then turned back to bark the same orders Barbossa did a split second later. I pulled the wet jacket closer to my shivering frame and walked up to the helm, hiding behind a few crates of rum and not moving.

* * *

Days passed in a flurry of color. I didn't move from my spot, barely taking my eyes from the wooden floor. Meals went by and I didn't eat. When night came, I barely slept, always awakened by the gentlest creaking of wood. All in all, I was a wreck.

Everyone ignored me. Sometimes sidelong glances would be made towards my tiny, unmoving figure, but no one approached me. They were all afraid. It was on day four after rescuing Captain Sparrow that someone actually attempted to get me up.

"M-Miss?"

I looked up from his sodden shoe, up his full lanky figure until I was looking into his face. The wooden eye gave away his character even with the sun shining in my line of vision. Ragetti smiled a bit nervously and sat down, crossing his long legs.

His trembling hands were holding a filthy bowl filled with lumpy stew out to me. I shook my head at first, but he pushed it closer to my chest. With weak hands, I took it and filled the spoon with as little as possible. It rolled around on my tongue, it's warmth spreading throughout my being, the taste indescribably good after days of lacking of food.

"The cap'n's an idiot," he told me in a whisper. I laughed a bit, my first smile cracking my dry skin. "He thinks he knows what he's doing, ignoring you like that, but he don't know nuffink." I sighed.

"I don't know, Ragetti," I replied, my voice barely above a breath. I didn't continue, instead occupying my time by dipping my spoon in the bowl again and taking another gulp of the hot liquid.

"I'm sorry," he muttered unhappily. I stopped scarfing down the scorching soup.

"Why?" I asked. "It's not your fault the Captain doesn't enjoy my company." Bitterness consumed me.

"I'm sorry for that," he explained, both his eyes on the floor between us. "I'm sorry that he is a right arse for not taking you with us willingly. I'm sorry I couldn't help the matter."

I shrugged. "It's not your fault," I repeated firmly.

"Yeah…"

We continued to remain silent, me finishing my meal and him gazing at me as a I did. But I wasn't uncomfortable anymore. If anything, his longing stare was endearing. It proved to myself that I wasn't completely worthless.

As I ate, things slowly began to pick up speed around us. No apparent reason, only the fact that everyone was finishing their evening meals too. Captain Sparrow emerged from his cabin and climbed up towards us. I knew he wasn't going to speak to me, though. He was headed towards the helm only to turn the wheel and aim us elsewhere's.

"Can you give me a moment alone with her, lad."

Then why was he asking Ragetti to leave?

Ragetti took my empty bowl and spoon, nodded briefly at his captain, and scampered down the stairs. I watched him go, and when he was out of sight completely, I gazed down at my dry hands. I couldn't bear to look at him.

"Look, love -" Untouched fury that hadn't been felt in so long bubbled over.

"You lost the right to call me that when you tried to leave me on that damned island."

He held his hands up in surrender. "You know why that was my first notion, lo - pardon, _Emberlynn_."

"I know," I grumbled.

"And yet, if I truly didn't want you on this voyage with me, I'd've thrown you overboard," he clarified. I tried not to chuckle. "I still don't hate you," he added quietly.

I finally turned my eyes towards him. He was gazing at me in a way that made me feel less lowly. He patted my knee and rose, going to the wheel.

* * *

**YAY! What'd you think? _S'il vous plait_, review :) long reviews are most welcome**


	13. Souls of the Sea

**I'm sorry! It took a little while, but I think it'll be worth it!**

* * *

Much later into the night, Jack's words still rang in my head loud and clear.

"_And yet, if I truly didn't want you on this voyage with me, I'd've thrown you overboard. I still don't hate you." _They weren't effected by the short span of time whatsoever. I could still see his ragged face, smell his rum-drenched breath, feel his tropical warmth.

_No. No, no, no, Emberlynn!_

I rolled onto my left so I was facing the innards of the ship instead of the wall. No one was beneath the deck besides me. It didn't faze me in the least. If anything, it helped me think more clearly without getting distracted.

But _why _didn't he hate me? He had every reason to. From leaving him to the Kraken to toying with his emotions, I might as well have been sent to Davy Jones' Locker, too. Some part of me felt like it had been dragged to the depths with Jack.

I heard footsteps, followed by mischievous chuckling, and saw Pintel and Ragetti hurry down the staircase leading to my deck layer. They didn't notice me, making their way towards a cannon.

"What're you doing?" I mumbled tiredly. They jumped at my voice.

"_Oi_! Why're you sleeping?" I rolled my eyes at Pintel's question.

"I asked you first," I snapped back at him, feeling childish. Then again, this game was one of children.

"There're pale people floating on the wa'er, and we're gonna find out what happens when you drop a cannonball on one of 'em!" Ragetti excitedly explained. I stopped fixing my mussed up hair.

"Pale people floating on the water?" I repeated. They both nodded, but I shook my head and followed them and their cannonballs upstairs.

I knew what this was. It had been part of my first week of apprenticeship. She had told me of Davy Jones, of his duty to ferry those who died at sea to the Other Side that she had charged him with. And since we were currently somewhere between the land of the living and Fiddler's Green, they would probably be here.

If only Jones were a good man and done as he was told, taken those souls to either Heaven or Hell. Now they were forced to wander aimlessly for eternity.

On the deck, I leaned over the edge of the _Pearl _and gazed down at the bodies as they floated. They were a ghastly shade of white, material enough that I could see them clearly yet so thin the ocean beneath was visible, too. I had a craving, much like Ragetti and Pintel, to reach down and scoop up some of them.

Two heavy thuds came from the helm, and I looked up. Tia was standing at the end of the ship, glaring at the pair of misfit pirates who were looking awkward in her presence, ready to toss something onto dead people.

"Day should be in de care of Davy Jones," she told them sharply, turning around. "Dat was the duty him was charged wid by the goddess, Calypso. To ferry dose who die at sea to de Udder Side." She spun back around. "And every ten years, him could come ashore. To be wid she who love him…truly!"

I slowly made my way towards them while Tia looked back at the almost transparent beings that were still making their way by the sides of our vessel.

"But de man has become a monstah." Ragetti came a bit closer, along with Pintel.

"So he wasn't always…tentacley?" he asked, making a tentacle motion on his chin with his fingers. I could practically hear Tia smile ruefully.

"No," she replied quietly. "Him was a man. _Once_."

In the distance, as I bent closer to the ocean, I could see the faintest of lights that were definitely not the stars coming towards us. Ragetti barely muttered, "Now there's boats coming."

The quiet night remained even as much of the crew came along and stared at the dinghies that were passing. I found myself slowly being surrounded. Gibbs was loading a long rifle, and William and I both put our hands on it to stop him.

"They're not a threat to us," William told Gibbs. Then he looked at Tia and I and added, "Am I right?"

"We are but ghosts to them," I told him quietly. He nodded.

"It's best just leave them be," Barbossa announced.

So we all stood, gathered on either sides of the boats, watching the boats go by. They all had one or more people sitting within them, most paler than they normally would be. They looked more whole than those who had been gliding across the waters.

"It's my father, we've made it back!" I looked down the line and saw Elizabeth looking ecstatic. In front of her was a man in one of the boats. A long, curly white wig and a blue coat. "Father! Father, here! Look here!"

"Elizabeth." She turned to Jack behind her. "We're not back," he told her sullenly. Her smile slowly shrank, but she wouldn't give in.

"Father!" she screamed. The man turned his head gradually, looking confused and scared.

"Elizabeth," he said quietly. "Are you dead?"

She shook her head vigorously. "No, no, no," she breathed.

"I think I am."

"No, you can't be!" she cried. She seemed to be on the verge of tears. Apparently, this was news to her.

"There was this…chest, you see," he began. "And this heart. At the time it seemed so important."

"Come aboard!" Elizabeth yelled, persistent.

"And the heart. I learned that if you stabbed the heart, yours must take its place, and you will sail the seas for eternity. The _Dutchman _must have a captain." He looked away gently. "Silly thing to die for."

"Someone, cast a line!" Marty looked down at the rope at his feet and began to slowly unwind it. Elizabeth, being ever so patient, grabbed it from him and threw it out at her father.

"Take the line!" she ordered her father. He smiled sadly.

"I'm so proud of you, Elizabeth," he told her.

"Father, the line!" she shrieked. "Take the line!"

I watched with tears in my own eyes. This was heartbreaking. The line fell into the ocean. She continuously screamed at him while he told her he'd send her love to her mother. She ran towards the front of the ship.

I knew her intentions.

"She must not leave de ship!" Tia screamed, and William raced to her. Everyone followed, save for me, as I had eyes for something else.

A dinghy not far from us, the brightest of any, was floating ever closer. Two people were sitting in it, both wearing crosses around their necks, their fingers entwined. The woman's beautiful flaxen hair pulled up in the most elegant of chignons and her slightly worn-out face complimented his pulled back grey strands and saggy skin. They both wore upper-class clothing, the woman in a green dress and the man in his tailcoat and tight white breeches.

My parents.

"Alice!" I turned my head and saw Tia standing behind me, calling at them. "Alice! John!"

I saw in the bright candlelight both of them squint their eyes and mutter to themselves. Mother put her mouth near Father's ear and quickly told him something. He nodded in agreement and pulled out another cross from his pocket.

"Be gone, spirits!" he screamed at us. I felt myself choke up. It was their deaths all over again.

"Why are day here?" Tia asked quietly. I looked at her in mild surprise.

"They caught the influenza while on the journey to Port Royal," I replied in the same tone.

"And why didn't you catch it as well?"

"I was on a different ship. One that didn't contain a group of people carrying the disease." She nodded at me, then went back to trying to get a reaction from my parents.

"Alice Delaney! Do not pretend dat you cannot hear me!" Tia shouted at my mother. She tried not to look up. My father even patted her head closer to him. "If it weren't for dat husband of yours, we could still be friends! John changed you! You were once as free as I was, as free as de sea itself! Don't let someone you no longer love change dat!"

"BE GONE!" Father roared. All attention on the boat had turned to us, save for Elizabeth and William, who were huddling in a corner.

"Alice, don't let him decide fur you!" Tia screamed. She looked like she would burst out crying soon, too.

"Where's Davy?" I was shocked, both from the sound of my mother's voice after all these years and her claim. Tia stopped moving along the side of the _Pearl_. "Hmm, Tia? Where is your 'love'? Such a thing doesn't exist, and we both know it."

"It does so." I felt the words come out loud and true, piercing the foggy night. Mother looked at me in shock. "It does, Mother. And Father wasn't who was meant for you!"

"How dare you impugn her choice, girl!" Father screamed at me. "You are nothing! Nothing! Be gone, damned spirits! Be -"

"God doesn't exist!" I yelled over him, hushing him. "He isn't listening! He isn't real! Stop pretending otherwise! You're here because some stupid group of filthy immigrants decided, 'What the hell? Let's go home and kill half the population!' God had nothing to do with it!

"You know, at the time of your deaths, I was devastated. The only two people who cared about me, and only because I was a worshipping follower like them, were gone from this world. I couldn't stop bawling for a week. But over time, I realized that I didn't need you. I didn't need any of you! You could all die in a pit of fire after I learned everything and I wouldn't care! So you know what? Fuck you! _Fuck you_!"

I sniffed heavily, satisfied that my mother was staring at me in shock. But Father barely flinched at my language. He finally threw one of his crosses at the side of the ship and muttered while touching his forehead, then chest, then each shoulder, "_Forgive me for speaking to the devil. Forgive me for speaking to the devil_."

I shrieked in utter anger and pity of myself, and grabbed a few candleholders from the floor. With strength, I chucked them at them, watching with anger yet fulfilment as they flinched heavily at the touches.

Just as I placed my hand on a pile of timber, Tia grabbed my shoulder and tried to stop me. I shook her off blatantly and picked up the wood.

"Emberlynn. No."

I was completely shocked to see Jack standing with one gentle hand on my shoulder, looking straight into my eyes. I shook my head continuously and tried to move, but he pulled me back with subtlety. My eyes fell on him and he turned his face from side to side.

The timber fell from my clutches and landed on both of our feet painfully, y et neither of us cringed. Tears welled up heavily in my eyes, and fell down my cheeks. I felt pathetic, weak, vulnerable, and feebly fell into his chest, letting his arms wrap around my back.

I felt myself being pulled away from the crowd of crewmen and others. I didn't care where I went. For the millionth time in the many months I'd been with these lunatics, I wanted to just lye down and die.

A slam came next. I was warmer than I had been out on the deck. Through bleary eyes, I saw a blurry dark figure moving around a firelight glowing room. I had to assume it was Jack.

He put a heavy woollen blanket around my shoulders, which I took easily and wrapped around myself tighter. I looked around and saw that I was on his bed. The red silk comforter looked Korean, but I couldn't be sure.

Turning my head, I saw Jack place a wooden barrel in front of me and plop down on top of it. He folded his hands between his open knees, placing his elbows on them, and looked at me gently.

"They were your parents?" he asked quietly. I nodded, sniffing indelicately, not caring if he saw. I'd been worse off.

"Yeah," I replied, my voice cracking. He nodded like I had, then got up to leave. I made to follow, but he stopped me.

"You take me bed tonight, aye?" I quickly shook my head, not wanting to take advantage of him. "Emberlynn…I shan't sleep soundly if I don't know that you were somewhere comfortable. Besides, it'll be a nice change from having to bunk with those lazy bilge rats we call a crew." He attempted to smile, but I still shook my head. "Please."

"Can you stay with me?" I rose both eyebrows in surprise, and I blushed furiously. "Just until I fall asleep!"

With a slight sigh, he nodded his agreement and tucked me into the warm sheets. I felt overheated, but in a soothing way that melted some of the pain of being neglected by my damned parents away.

I felt him lye down next to me, felt him warp an arm around my side, felt his rough lips press a small kiss against my temple.

Within moments, I was asleep.

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**Aaaw :) Their second kiss. I hope you enjoyed this, and I would LOVE me some reviews!**


	14. Secrets and the Sea

**Sorry for the wait! I've been busy and tired and lazy and Allie's been sick, so nice old me took care of her. Today, I have another chapter for you AND I want to thank some reviewers.**

**Thanks to: ****TheOpportuneMoment, ontheotherhand, JackSparrowLover4ever, Marie Isabella, Dawn's Darkness****, You cant rush science., rowj667, TellMeYourSecret, MusicAndApples, iLuvTwiBoyz, Alice Althea, and toxic petals :)**

**And SPECIAL THANKS to: ShesASuperFreak317, M-marije-e, TwiHard24, Amiee.P, and SailorSorcerer :)**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

I awoke to the red silk comforter bunched up around my hips and my top exposing my overly pale stomach more so than usual. An arm was underneath my bare back and I could see a dirty hand with many bracelets and cloths wrapped around it on my left side.

Turning around as gently as possible, I looked to my right and saw him. He was still here. His arm was wrapped around me. His head was lying on a pillow below my, his rough cheek gently scratching my shoulder.

I knew that I should've been angry with him for taking advantage of me and remaining in his bed with me, but I wasn't. It felt too right, him lying beside me under the sheets.

"Morning." I nearly jumped out of my skin when he spoke, and when my heart became regular again, I noticed a smirk on his face. I glared half-heartedly.

"You scared me."

"I noticed," he quipped back, still looking smug. I tried not to smile and instead looked down at my bare abdomen.

"You should know better than to take advantage of a saddened woman," I scolded him playfully. He laughed.

"I didn't do anything, love," he replied gently. "Partway through the night, it was _you _who decided subconsciously your shirt needed to be raised a bit."

"I was referring more to the 'sleeping with me, but _not _sleeping with me'." He shrugged.

"Tomato, tomato."

Sighing, I felt the urge to remain on the comfortable duvet with him. But he had other plans, rising and fixing the sash wrapped tightly around his waist.

"Where're you off to, Captain Sparrow?" I asked curiously. He smiled, showing off his gold teeth.

"The helm, dearie," he replied. "I am, after all, s'posed to be captaining this vessel. And no matter how much I wish to remain here, I must be off." And with a tip of his tricorn hat, he left.

My body flooded with slightly embarrassed heat and I dropped into the pillows, enjoying their fluffy quality. It reminded me of my life back when my parents were alive. I was surrounded by soft, luxurious blankets and not a hemp hammock.

At the thought of my parents, the memories of last night flooded me.

They had rejected me, flat-out and without disagreement.

Tears welled up in my eyes and I sobbed into Jack's pillows.

* * *

The heat was unbelievable. If you only stepped out onto the deck into the blinding sun, you'd begin to sweat in places you didn't think had glands. I hadn't a sweet clue of this truth and did the naïve thing of going out unprotected.

With a shriek, I tried to shield my eyes from the bright sun and fight off the warmth that reminded me of the Cypress forest. It wasn't as humid, but still pretty damn hot out.

I slowly walked along the edge of the ship, running my hand along the banister. I could see the sun slowly setting along the edge of the water in the distance. Thin, heavy clouds were hanging in front of them gracefully. I stopped next to William, gripping his forearm as he looked at Elizabeth.

She hadn't moved since that night with her father. All she did was sit around, moping, much like I had after Jack had arrived on the ship again.

"If we cannot escape these doldrums before night," Tia began, coming towards us from nowhere, "I fear we will sail on trackless seas, doomed to roam the reach betweens worlds _forever_."

"With no water, forever looks to be arriving a mite too soon," Gibbs added, also appearing.

William strode purposefully behind us, muttering, "Why doesn't he _do _something?" He was looking at Barbossa, who was standing at the helm, looking out at the slightly hazy view of the ocean and orange sky.

As William and Gibbs began to discuss the charts words that we had found earlier, during the time of the unbearable cold. Tia put her darker hand on top of my pale one. Her hypnotic eyes, accentuated with black marks just underneath in a ritual pattern.

"You are tinking of your parents," she stated. I looked out on the still Caribbean blue sea. I didn't want to confirm the truth.

"Alice made a grave mistake in marrying your father," she continued, her eyes following mine. "She taught dat it would save her soul, and so yours. But John was a monster of a man. And I am sorry to tell you dis, but I rejoiced in celebration when I heard dat he had perished."

I felt the warm droplets of water fall down my face, and Tia wiped them away. A smile crept onto it against my will.

"Did you know dat John wanted to name you Mary, like de virgin?" I tried not to laugh. "Or Anne, like Saint Anne? You should be tankful dat I gave your mother a name dat wouldn't make you one of dose 'normal people'!"

I was almost in tears with laughter now. It felt so new, so strange. Happiness was a long forgotten emotion, especially for a pirate, and it felt so right.

Wait. Did I just call myself a pirate?

The thought of that title made me dizzy, but in a way that also allowed freedom. I'd always had free will, of course, as Tia wasn't one to constrict upon me. But I was older now, able to make decisions for myself. And I had decided that I was a pirate.

"Did Mother know?" I suddenly asked, looking at her slightly smiling face. "About your secret?"

Tia's grin slowly slid away and she turned stony whilst looking off the edge of the _Pearl _again. "She did. And she let my secret slip to John. And he, in his false sense of propriety, banished me from being her friend. I wasn't mad at her, by any means. It was an accident. But an accident dat cost her a friend and you…a god-mutter."

Her words sank in before I realized what her last words were.

"Godmother?" I asked, shocked. She nodded and held one of my hands.

"Aye," she replied. "A god-mutter. John was highly opposed to it, and wouldn't allow it, de nerve of de man. But, in secret, you were christened wid me at de ceremony and I was announced your god-mutter. I am sorry for not telling you dis earlier."

I shook my head, not angry in the least. "No, it's fine, I was just surprised." She nodded, gave my hand a final squeeze, and walked away.

So I did have some family. Family I had been living with for years without knowing of her relation, even if it was one of the church. Tia was my godmother. Calypso was my godmother. The power of saying such a thing was exhilarating.

I strode as slowly as possible to the helm, where Captain Barbossa still stood, looking proud and slightly arrogant. He turned his head slightly when he heard me stop beside him, but didn't change his expression. I was unsurprised.

"Any plans on what we'll do to get out of this realm?" I asked conversationally, though the topic itself was life threatening. He smiled a bit.

"None, Miss. Delaney," he replied evenly. I scowled at the use of my last name. "But I assure ye that soon enough Jack will come up with something."

As if on cue, a sudden cry from below elicited and I leaned over the edge of the helm to see the deck. Jack had risen from a table with the navigational charts on them and was now trying to figure out what was on the port side of the ocean. Much of the crew was staring at him curiously, a few going to look at what he was trying to see better.

Then he made towards the starboard side, still claiming to see something. From my position at the helm, I couldn't see a damned thing, other than that Jack was mad.

Back and forth, he made the crew run, so quickly that soon enough, the ship was rocking from side to side. I had to hold onto the edge to keep from falling over. Jack eyed me, and called to my shocked figure.

"Mind coming to help, love?"

Biting back a smile, and ran towards the group and clung to the port side as the ship rocked opposite.

Ragetti and Pintel were tied upside-down on the mast, and though I knew what their intentions were, it was a stupid idea. The heavy creaking of the _Pearl _under many running feet and the shifting cargo was loudly drumming against our ears.

The sails were nearly touched the water as we did a few more laps across the deck. Much of the time, I was barely able to reach onto the banister before we had to continue on. One of Tai Huang's men fell into the ocean, along with some cargo.

Our final time, I tried to keep a firm grip on the slippery wood, and felt my feet fly up from under me, so we were hanging. Another Chinese man let go of his place, and landed on the net, only to be hit by a heavy-looking cannon. Gibbs winced.

My hands were letting go, I knew it. One of them flew off, and Jack, on my right, grabbed hold of the one still there, willing me to remain stuck. I couldn't take my eyes off of his until the creaking became unbearably deafening.

"Now up," Jack began as the _Pearl _slowly became submerged in the icy water, "Is down." He made a confused face, and I almost laughed, but thought better of it. Sucking in the last bits of air, we were suddenly under the sea.

Through the salty water, I saw the members of the crew holding onto the ship with might. Tia looked strangely enjoyable, as though she belonged there - then again, she technically did. Barbossa looked confused. Elizabeth looked panicked, though I couldn't figure out why.

To get a better grip on Jack's vessel, I let go to reach onto something else, but instead was pressured downwards. Elizabeth saw this and made a gargled scream, catching the attention of several, including Jack. He made to swim after me, but was pushed downwards, too.

In the distance, slowly becoming dimmer and dimmer, I could see the sun almost completely underwater. I wasn't sure what would happen, just that I was afraid to be left here.

Then a flash of green. Bright and true and emerald all the way. The ship began to float closer to the surface, through a reverse whirlpool. I tried to grab onto something, and found Jack's hand. Looking up barely in time, I saw him clinging to a piece of rope hanging from the mast.

We jumped up through the ocean's surface, breaking it's calm and emptiness. Air was a gift that I gladly received and took a large gulp of it. It was a delayed reaction that I realized that I was falling downwards from the rope onto the deck.

Damned gravity.

I landed heavily, the wind being knocked out of me, and then felt Jack land right on my gut. He was coughing up water, as well, though not as heavily as I. Maybe because he was used to swimming and lack of oxygen, where I liked to stay in the air.

The moment he realized he was atop me, he climbed off and dropped on my left. I was soaking wet, still choking on salty water.

Jack's rough hand suddenly was placed on my neck, and I looked over at him. He was gazing at my overly pale throat as though trying to figure out what was choking me on the outside. I shook my head, but he just clutched my hair tighter yet it wasn't painful.

We both heard the cocking of a pistol, and saw Barbossa standing over us, his gun pointed at Jack. Immediately, Elizabeth and William both cocked their pistols at him. Jack stood quickly, making sure I was alright and behind him, and pointed one pistol at William. William followed suit, so Jack pointed one at Elizabeth, who looked at him in disgust and aimed one at him.

And then, they were laughing. Then, more pointing.

I didn't understand bloody pirates at all.

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**Shorter, yeah, but still review!**


	15. Love?

**_*cue applause*_ oh, stop, really, I can't take it :)**

**Anyways, I hope you find this chapter satisfactory. It didn't take long to write! Maybe my slight writer's block is gone!**

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"All right, then!" Barbossa said loudly, once everyone became serious again. "The Brethren Court is a-gatherin' at Shipwreck Cove. And, Jack, you and I are a-goin', there'll be no arguing that point."

Jack smiled. "I is arguing the point. If there's pirates a-gathering, I'm pointing my ship the other way," he replied. Elizabeth turned both her pistols on him.

"The pirates are gathering to fight Beckett, and you're a pirate!" she explained through barred teeth. Jack pointed both at her, then one back at William when he turned both his on Jack.

"Fight or not?" he asked menacingly. "You're not running, Jack."

"If we don't stand together, they'll hunt us down, one by one, till there be none left but you."

"I rather like the sound of that," he smirked, obviously daydreaming. "Captain Jack Sparrow, the Last Pirate." I swatted him upside the head. How could he possibly even consider that? He groaned a bit and Barbossa came closer.

"Aye! And you'll be fightin' Jones alone, how does that figure into your plan?"

"I'm still workin' on that," Jack said. "But I will not be goin' back to the Locker, mate. You can count on that." I nearly screamed as he pulled the trigger on his gun right up near Barbossa's face, but was shocked, just as he was, to find it only made a wet clicking noise.

Everyone else pulled their triggers, too, and found them in the same condition. Irritated, Gibbs explained, "Wet powder."

In the background as Jack stuffed his useless pistols away into his belt and scarf, I heard Pintel scream, "Wait! We can still use 'em as clubs!" Then Ragetti hit Pintel over the head with the end of his pistol and apologized heavily.

"How could you even _consider _doing something so stupid and selfish?" I asked angrily. He grabbed onto a rope, leaning to the side.

"Quite the thank you you're giving me for saving you life back there," he grinned casually. I crossed my damp arms, both hoping to warm up, seem angry, and cover anything that may be revealed from the thinness of my shirt.

"I'm sorry," I muttered, looking at my soaked boots. "Thank you." He chuckled.

"Not a problem, young missy," he replied. "Tia would've had my head if anything had happened to you, so I really saved both our lives. _Thank you, Jack_." I tried not to laugh at his antics.

"You really are a good man," I sighed.

"Did you really ever had any doubt?"

"That's for me to know and you to _never _find out."

"Is that so, Miss. Delaney?"

"As a matter of fact, it is, Mr. Sparrow."

"I shall. You'll give in."

It was then that I noticed that we had subconsciously closed the short space between us. I was now almost touching him. My arms had fallen, and one of his was reaching towards my neck.

"I know it," he added, this time much quieter. His rough hand touched the pale flesh of my throat, caressing it gently, grazing it, really.

Without truly knowing what I was doing, I got up a little bit on tiptoe, my mouth slightly open, as was his, and let my left arm wrap around his neck. The feeling of his wet dreadlocks was almost sensuous.

Our mouths were nearly touching now. Mere millimetres away, so that if I wanted to, I could lean in and capture them quite nicely. But I didn't have the chance.

He did it first.

"_Emberlynn_," I heard him groan against my lips as his moved his in sync with them. My grip on him tightened immensely, so I was pressed right against him in nearly all ways possible. One of his hands was on my hip, holding me steady. The thought that he had done this with so many other women, probably on his numerous trips to Tortuga, was unnerving, and the jealousy bubbled in the pit of my stomach.

Yet I somehow knew this was different. There wasn't only lustful want in this kiss - though that was definitely there. There was a sort of new passion that even I hadn't foreseen coming. The possessive way he held me. My name coming from his mouth in a moan. And this strange slowness to his pace.

I was wrong.

This wasn't just lust.

An ear piercing screech elicited from above us, and I opened my eyes to see two beady black ones. I couldn't help but yelp in fright and jump back. Jack, in rage, took out one of his pistols again and pointed it at Jack the monkey, not remembering the earlier escapade with them. It clicked, followed shortly by water flying out, and Jack swore angrily. The capuchin, though, seemed to be laughing as he swung from rope to rope up and around the _Pearl_.

I really hated that monkey.

"There doing something," I commented, pointing towards the group of huddled people near a table. He nodded, but turned back for a moment.

A grin, whether cocky or genuine, it was hard to tell, graced his face, and he mock saluted. I bowed, picking up fake skirts, and watched his run off, though I followed quickly, standing with Tia.

"There's a fresh water spring on this island," William explained, unrolling the navigational charts and pointing to a small spit of land. "We can re-supply there, get back to shooting each other later."

I rolled my eyes. _Bloody pirates_.

"You lead the shore party, I'll stay with my ship," Jack said to Barbossa. The older man turned his head and glared a bit.

"I'll not be leavin' my ship in your command," he commented bitterly.

"Why don't you both go ashore, and leave the ship in my command?" William inquired. Both the captains looked at him incredulously. "_Temporarily_," he added quietly.

"Agreed," they both muttered with a bit of reluctance. Everyone broke off, including Jack and Barbossa, who went to the edge of the ship. I remained with William, looking at the chart quizzically.

"Are you sure about that?" I asked. He turned his head and looked at me blankly.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, how are you sure? There're no words to assume so, and no directional -"

"I'm sorry, Emberlynn," he cut over me, standing up suddenly. "But I know what I'm doing."

Shocked at his behaviour and a bit peeved, I sat down where he had been, deciding to study the charts.

Many of the scattered islands looked the same. I had no idea how William could possibly decipher one island from another, and what's more, tell if it held fresh water or not. I trusted him, but not strongly enough to believe that island was as pure as he made everyone else believe.

A few minutes later, half of the crew began to pile into a few dinghies, carrying empty barrels and canteens. I made to wait in the line-up and climb in, but was held back by an oddly soft hand. Turning, I found it was one of Tai Huang's men. He shook his head.

Indignant, I tried to break free, and did so quite easily. The man added, "Captain's orders."

"Captain?" I asked, shocked. "Which captain?"

He pointed his head to the left before leaving. Looking that way, I saw Jack. He was fiddling with his pistol uncomfortably.

"Stay here, love," he told me firmly. I shook my head, but he shook his harder. "Please. I have two very excellent reasons. One, I don't trust Barbossa. And two, I don't trust young Turner."

"And those are excellent reasons for me not to come ashore because…"

"Just…please, Emberlynn." Sighing, I nodded in defeat.

"Alright." He looked pleased. "But I expect something in return."

"What, our little 'exchange' earlier wasn't enough?" I shook my head. "Care for another round later on?"

"Maybe," I replied, coming closer. As he leaned in, his hand brushing near my cheek, I snatched it and studied the many rings before deciding on a thin black wooden one. There were no fancy jewels, nor large intricate designs on the band. It was simple and understated, quite unlike Jack himself.

"I'll take this," I told him easily. He smiled a bit.

"Sure you wouldn't care for a more, I don't know, feminine one?" I shook my head again. "Alright, then. It'll be like a lady's favour, except from a gentleman to a lady instead of the other ways around."

Laughing to myself, I slipped the ring on my right ring finger and waved bye. He smirked and climbed aboard the dinghy.

"Quite nice, isn't it?"

I spun around, putting my hand to my chest from fright. Tia smiled at me, a sad look in her dark eyes.

"What?" I asked, walking away from the edge of the boat to the stern. She followed, a bit slower in her many heavy layers. I found a small canteen filled to the brim with some kind of liquid, and I quickly chugged some.

"Being in love."

Choking, I spit out the liquid. Tia smirked.

"So you aren't in love?" she asked slyly. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

"This is rum," is all I told her in reply. Gibbs passed me and I gave it to him. He drank as though he were a parched man.

"You are avoiding de question," she told me. I shrugged and busied myself with tightening a few lines.

"I am not," I snapped back. "I just…don't know."

"How does it feel?"

With a final tug on the rope, I turned to her. She was smiling so I could see her silver teeth glinting in the mid-morning sun.

"It feels like…flying. Like I could jump into shark infested waters and not perish, because he would save me. Like I could be stranded on some deserted island with nothing but a shot, but he wouldn't let me shoot myself, because he knew there was hope. Every time I see him, I get butterflies in my stomach, like I'd just fallen through quicksand, going deeper and deeper into something undoable. But I don't mind. My heart soars on the clouds when we kiss. And its…_magic_."

Tia smiled even wider and ran a hand over my cheek.

"Dat is what love is, chile."

Suddenly, I heard a loud shout and turned in the direction of it. One of the Chinese men, looking far too pleased with himself, was pointing towards the ocean. In the distance I could see a ship. Tall and proud, much like the _Hai Peng _had looked, but with more vibrant colors. I could only assume who it was.

"Take hold of them!" another voice cried from that ship. It was right next to us now. Men were flying over here on their ropes, crying in victory. I tried to outrun them, pulling out a dagger I had stuck in my boot and using it if necessary. But from behind, a tall, buff guy with a tattoo running from his right wrist along his arms and shoulders then down to his left took hold of me. I attempted to stab him, but the blade was taken from me.

William was the only one not captured, and he walked deliberately along the deck towards a robed man with whiskers coming from his lips.

Sao Feng.

"Very nicely done," William told him. I widened my eyes in shock and made to get to the little bugger.

"You liar!" I spat, but he barely turned around. I tried to pull free to get him, but the tattooed man was twice my weight as well as having at least triple my strength.

Sao Feng turned to his men, smiling maliciously. From the corner of my eye, I saw much of the crew climbing back aboard, including Barbossa and Jack. The latter man was hiding childishly behind the former. Sao Feng grinned even wider.

"Sao Feng!" Barbossa cried, catching the man's attention. "You showin' up here is truly a remarkable coincidence."

Sao Feng smiled at Jack from behind Barbossa's shoulder. "Jack Sparrow." Jack smiled, biting his finger. "You paid me great insult once."

"That doesn't sound like me," Jack replied, feigning surprise. Sao Feng quickly jutted out his fist at Jack's face, creating a sickening crack. I struggled harder to break free. Jack cracked his nose to either side. "Shall we just call it square, then?"

* * *

**Strange ending place, but anywhere else would interupt a conversation. You know what is going to happen, but I think you should A) review more! and B) tell me what you think will happen with Emberlynn in the mix**

**Also, did you enjoy their second kiss? And do you want to shoot the monkey as badly as Jack and myself?**

**OOOOOOOOOOOOH! AAAAND I am thinking of writing another Jack/OC story. I'm have two ideas. One includes that 'taken from 21st century to Pirates of the Caribbean movie set' with Allie and myself, but I'm not positive about it. Thoughts?**


	16. Old Friends

**This is a particularly long chapter, mostly because it switches POV's without telling you all the time. You'll figure it out, though. If you've seen the movie. Enjoy!**

* * *

William, who I had not noticed was hidden by Singaporean men. "Release her!" he said loudly, pointing to Elizabeth. "She's not part of the bargain."

"And what bargain be that?" Barbossa inquired. Sao Feng ignored him, and smirking, told his crewmen to release Elizabeth. He also called him 'Captain Turner'.

"Captain?" I mocked in shock. Elizabeth looked at me helplessly.

"Aye, the perfidious rotter led a mutiny against us!" Gibbs explained, which I already knew.

"I need the _Pearl _to free my father," William told us. "That's the only reason I came on this voyage." Elizabeth, now unchained, rushed to him, looking almost livid.

"Why didn't you tell me you were planning this?" she asked angrily.

Not looking her in the eyes, he replied, "It was my burden to bear." She looked hurt at his words. Apparently, something had gone on earlier.

"_He _needs the _Pearl_," Jack pointed out. "_'Captain Turner' _needs the _Pearl_! And you and your Brethren Court," he added to Barbossa. "Did no one come to save me just because they missed me?"

No one spoke for a moment. I was shocked that Gibbs didn't say anything.

Then a small hand came from a Marty, and Jack pointed. Pintel, too, and Ragetti and Cotton. I raised my own hand, and he winked at me. Even Jack the monkey, who resided above me, put his little arm up. Jack smiled at Sao Feng.

"I'm standing over there with them," he announced. Sao Feng grabbed him, though, and put his mouth near his forehead so he could hear him well.

"I'm sorry, Jack," he muttered. "But there is an old friend who wants to see you first." I had no idea what he was speaking of.

"I'm not certain I can survive any more visits from old friends," Jack replied nervously. Sao Feng grinned and dragged him to the starboard side to see a ship coming towards us.

"Here is your chance to find out," the bald man chuckled. In the distance, I could see a raised British Empire flag.

Oh, Lord.

* * *

I was unceremoniously shoved into Lord Cutler Beckett's office by two guards, and locked without a key. Rubbing my wrists from their rough grips, I looked over at the wide window, where a view of the _Pearl _was perfect. Beckett had his back to me, his white wig large and stupid-looking as ever.

"Curious," he began slowly. "Your friends appear to be quite desperate, Jack. Perhaps they no longer believe that a gathering of squabbling pirates can defeat the _Flying Dutchman_."

I looked at his dresser - how very girly for a man - and the fine boxes covering it. Quietly, I began to open each one while he continued to speak. I was only half listening. Not unlike me.

"And so despair leads to betrayal. But you and I are no strangers to betrayal, are we?" As I lifted the lid to the third wooden box, my eyes drifted towards the pirate brand that he had given me so long ago. It was still white against my tanned skin.

"It's not here, Jack."

I dropped the lid and turned around, feigning confusion. "What? What isn't?"

"The heart of Davy Jones," he replied. "It's safely aboard the _Dutchman _and so unavailable for use as leverage to satisfy your debt to the good captain."

_Good captain_, I scoffed silently.

But I continued to smile, striding towards a life-size painting of Beckett in front of an East India Trading Company flag. He was holding a staff of some sort, too, and looking confident, smug. But not smiling.

"By my reckoning, that account has been settled," I told him.

"By your death." I turned to look at him. "And yet here you are." I grabbed the staff that he was holding in the painting and smirked at the real Beckett.

"Close your eyes and pretend it's all a bad dream, that's how I get by." Turning back, I attempted to look like Beckett in the picture, screwing up my face into expressions I'm sure Emberlynn would laugh at.

"And if Davy Jones were to learn of your survival?"

* * *

I struggled uselessly against the chains that now encircled my wrists. They were rusted and scratched against my skin painfully. But being shot and sent down to the empty ocean would hurt far worse.

Men from the British Empire were marching aboard the _Pearl_, armed with long rifles. They looked practiced and unmerciful, as though seeing a group of pirates in handcuffs was nothing new to them. Then again, if they'd brushed up with Jack before, it probably wasn't.

"My men are crew enough," Sao Feng told the cruellest looking fellow. His tricorn hat and saggy features seemed to state that he had seen this before.

"Company ship, company crew," he replied. William, followed by Elizabeth, strode towards the pair of older men. William looked a bit angry.

"You agreed," he told Sao Feng, "The _Black Pearl _was to be mine." Sao Feng turned to him.

"And so it was," he replied. Then he nodded at Tai Huang, who pulled back a fist, and gutted William. Elizabeth could only watch in fear. I glared at Sao Feng.

"You are vile," I told him without fear. He smiled and nodded his head at the tattooed man who was guarding us. Immediately, cloth was wrapped around my head and put in my mouth. To keep me quiet, no doubt.

* * *

"Perhaps you would consider an alternative arrangement?" Beckett murmured. He had just poured several small shot glasses of gin. I preferred rum, but as there seemed to be none on hand, I took the gin. "One which requires absolutely nothing from you but information." He held up a drink.

Looking down at the pieces of silver with the EITC logo on them, I took my drink, and then his. "Regarding the Brethren Court, no doubt. In exchange for fair compensation -" I downed my drink "- square my debt with Jones -" I downed his "- guarantee my freedom." Beckett was already pouring two more.

"Of course," he replied evenly. "It's just good business." One of the little men in front of the coins was looking at me funny, and I swiped him up and studied his stone features.

"And were I in a divulgitory mood, what then might I divulge?" I asked.

"Everything," Beckett whispered, as though afraid someone would hear him. "Where are they meeting? Who are the pirate lords? What is the purpose of the Nine Pieces of Eight?"

_How did he know all this?_

* * *

William and Elizabeth were chained together a short ways away from me. William looked livid, while Elizabeth was attempting not to spit on Sao Feng.

Speak of the devil.

The saggy-faced man, who I learned to be named Mercer, was stopped by a long-nailed grimy hand on his shoulder. Sao Feng smiled, hiding his true emotions.

"Beckett agreed," he uttered, "The _Black Pearl _was to be mine!" Mercer looked back at the pirate with hatred.

"Lord Beckett is not going to give up the only ship as can outrun the _Dutchman_, now is he?" he replied harshly. Then he looked at Sao Feng's hand, daring him to keep it there. The Singaporean man knew better and raised it, letting the military man leave.

"Shame their not bound to honour the Code of the Brethren, isn't it?" Barbossa said, coming closer. Sao Feng was spewing anger. "Because honour's a hard thing to come by nowadays."

Grinning with contempt and outrage, Sao Feng turned to him and replied, "There is no honour to remain with the losing side. Leaving it for the winning side, that's just good business."

I really hated that man. I knew that if I were told I either had to stay with the losing side, the side of people I trusted and knew and maybe even loved, and die, or go to the winning side, I'd remain true to my family. Sao Feng was a scoundrel who deserved to die in battle.

"Losin' side, you say?" Barbossa inquired.

"_They _have the _Dutchman_," Sao Feng explained. "Now the _Pearl_! And what do the Brethren have?"

"We have Calypso."

My breath hitched in my throat. I suddenly couldn't breathe. How did he know? Surely, when Tia had reincarnated him, she hadn't told him her secret? And now Sao Feng knew!

"Barbossa,_ no_," I muttered in rage through my gag, trying to move. The tattooed man held me back. When I attempted to kick him in the groin, he grabbed hold of my ankle and twisted it painfully. I whimpered. I noticed Sao Feng's eyes lurk to me, then return to Barbossa.

"Calypso_,_" he laughed. "An old legend?"

"No," Barbossa replied. "The goddess herself bound in human form. Imagine all the power of the seas brought to bear against our enemy. I intend to release her, but for that, I need the Brethren Court." He reached to Sao Feng's chest and held up a circular black shell on a cord. "All the Court."

Sao Feng's eyes remained on me all while Barbossa spoke. The tattooed man behind me was twisting my ankle tighter. If he continued, it may snap.

* * *

Taking hold of a fancy-looking emerald fan lying on top of a dark wooden dresser, I opened it flamboyantly and spun around, fanning myself.

"You can keep Barbossa," I began slowly, thinking through what I said. "The belligerent homunculus and his friend with the wooden eye, both. And Turner. _Especially _Turner." The way that sounded, the thought of being able to be rid of that villain was wonderful. "The rest go with me aboard the Pearl and I'll lead you to Shipwreck Cove, where I will hand you the pirates and you will _not _hand me to Jones. Bloody fair deal, don't you think?"

Beckett considered this, turning a coin around in his stubby fingers. I continued to fan myself, waiting for a response.

"And what becomes of Miss. Swann?" he asked curiously. I smirked knowingly, putting down the fan now.

"What interest is she to you?" I replied. Beckett chuckled.

"None, none," he said. I nodded and turned back around, looking at his many trinkets and trying to see if Beckett was lying about the whereabouts of Jones' heart. "I'm actually more curious about Miss. Delaney."

My movements stop completely. How could he know of her? She wasn't ever known under the British Empire, didn't wear a pirate's brand, was completely free from this new world. Beckett noticed my hesitation, obviously.

"Ah, I see I'm not the only one who is engrossed with, Emberlynn, was it?" I heard him rise and come before me. At only five-foot-five, he was a short man, but the way his eyes were boring into me made me feel much shorter.

"Engrossed, are you mad? I'm only surprised you know of her, that's all," I retorted, trying to laugh. He smirked.

"Let us only say that when James Norrington returned, he, as you pirates put it, _'spilled the beans' _about her and you," Beckett explained. _I bloody hate that man_, I thought vulgarly.

* * *

"What are you proposing, captain?" Sao Feng asked. He was no longer trying to hide his long stares at me. His dark eyes were glued to me in fascination, knowing.

"What be ye exceptin', cap'n?" Barbossa replied. Sao Feng lowered his long red scarf.

"The girl," he breathed. I widened my eyes as Tia looked at me in shock. She wasn't unhappy by any means, just shocked as I was. My ankle was released.

"What?" I heard Elizabeth asked. She glanced between Sao Feng and myself, her eyes as wide as mine.

* * *

"Jack, I've just recalled," Beckett began, walking towards the back of the room. "I've got this wonderful compass which points to whatever I want. So for what do I need you?"

Well, at least we moved on from Emberlynn. But why did he have my compass again?

* * *

"Emberlynn is not part of any bargain."

I was even more shocked to hear Ragetti say this, and I could almost cry. He was so damn sweet. He smiled back, but looked scared when Sao Feng glared at him.

Barbossa shook his head. "Out of the question," he said. Sao Feng still stared at me.

"It was not a question!"

* * *

I spun on my heel to see the short man. "It points to the thing you want most. And that isn't the Brethren Court, is it?"

"Then what is, Jack?" he replied quietly, still holding out the compass.

"Me! Dead."

* * *

"Done," I finally said. Ragetti looked at me.

"Not done!" he announced louder, speaking to Sao Feng. I shook my head for him to stop, but he seemed stuck on it.

"You've gotten us into this mess, William Turner," I told William, who was almost as scared as Elizabeth. "If this is what frees us, then done!" Sao Feng looked smug. "But, Elizabeth must come with me."

Elizabeth's eyes widened, not in fear. I let a small smile escape and she returned it, albeit nervously.

* * *

"Damn," Beckett mumbled. He tossed me the compass, and I tossed him the fan. I felt as though I'd won.

Suddenly, it seemed as though a new light had been shed on this. "Although," he began again, opening the fan and using it slowly, "If I kill you, I can use the compass to find Shipwreck Cove - is it? - on my own." He took out a short pistol and cocked it, pointing it at me. "Cut out the middle man, as it were."

* * *

Ragetti somehow managed to use his thin arms and legs to break free from his guards and come in front of me.

"Emberlynn, they're pirates," he tried to reason. I shook my head.

"Trust me, I know how to deal with pirates," I replied placidly. He shook his head, trying to continue, but I just reached up and kissed his cheek. "I'll be fine."

"Then we have an accord?" Barbossa asked. I nodded and Sao Feng looked triumphant.

* * *

"With me killed, you'd arrive at the Cove," I began to explain to the short wigged man, "Find it's a stronghold, nigh impregnable, able to withstand blockade for years, and then you'd be wishing, 'Oh, if only were someone I had not killed inside to insure that the pirates then come outside."

The pistol really was tiny.

"And you can accomplish all this, can you?" he asked doubtfully. I smiled leisurely, putting out my arms.

"You may kill me, but you may never insult me," I smirked. "Who am I?" No words came out, which made me feel rather insignificant. "Why, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow."

Beckett looked ready to say something else, but a colossal explosion came through his large window, making the ship shake and his many tiny men fall down. I shook his hand, grabbed the small man that had been eyeballing me as well as my compass, and rushed out.

Not surprising - I was a rather lucky bastard - I managed to get out onto the helm with relative ease. All around me, people were being blown up left and right. But I remained untouched. Quickly, I thought of a plan, and put my little evil man in the mouth of a cannon. I attached a rope to the end that would go boom, did some quick manoeuvring, and blew on the end of a stick to get the heat going.

"You're mad!" Beckett exclaimed, who had apparently followed me out. I looked up at him.

"Thank goodness for that, because if I wasn't, this would probably never work!"

A touch of the stick to the fuse. A deafening boom. And I was thrown up into the air. Flying across the space between the ships, I dropped the stick, making a splash in the water and getting everyone's attention over there. But I landed rather gracefully on the head.

Barbossa looked over at me, then everyone else did, and I announced, "And that was without even a single drop of rum!"

* * *

**TA-DA! Enjoyed it, my pretties? I would appreciate your feedback. Five or more reviews and I'll update tomorrow! :D:D**


	17. A New Captain

**Btw, I changed the outfit a bit, just cause I'm badass like that :) No, I kinda liked this idea of her outfit better, so there ya go.**

**You got another chapter! You lucky bastards :) Thank you for your lovely reviews, they really do help me write better and faster**

* * *

Sao Feng's two newest ladies walked me behind a curtain with a robe on one of their arms. They began to undress me, but I quickly swatted them away from removing my shorts or my cropped shirt. I had some privacy issues.

They both looked a bit offended, but bowed and hurried off. I used the time to my advantage, as I was positive that Sao Feng wouldn't dare walk in while I was dressing. If he did, then I'd cause a riot, which I knew he'd hate with might.

Elizabeth walked in shortly, looking a bit more disgruntled then I was. Perhaps because I forced the pirate lord of Singapore to take her with us, and she wasn't as much a guest as I. I called to her to help me once I had the first layer of the dress on, but needed her help with the second.

"You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into this time, Emberlynn," she scolded quietly, putting on the long wine-colored kimono sleeves. I shrugged them on and fastened the black buttons into their loops.

"I think I have a fairly good idea," I replied in the same hushed tone. "But I'm not worried."

She knelt down to help smooth out the sky blue underskirt that reached my ankles. "I don't know," she sighed.

I shook my arms a bit to allow the red material to flow a bit smoother. It had a lovely floral design covering it. The last pieces of my wear included a greenish high-necked vest embroidered with what appeared to be jade bits and a hat with tassels. The pair of black ballet flats were tossed aside, as I refused to take off my boots.

"You look lovely," she told me while fixing up my hair. Apparently, it was tradition that women of power kept their hair up at all times. It was tightly held in place by at least a pound of bobby pins and a flexible leather cord.

"I'd prefer a pair of breeches and a blouse," I replied. She smiled at me.

"But it isn't what you prefer that matters, is it?" I looked at her quizzically, but she just shook her head and turned me towards the full length mirror behind the dressing divider.

I looked alright, for someone who had little shape. The blue short-sleeved under dress was hanging loosely beneath shorter, heavier overcoats. A crimson robe-like cover reached my knees, with intricately designed silver floral patterns on it, and was buttoned close. Finally was the oddly long black-green vest embroidered beautifully. The hat covered all my hair, which was a difficult task, and the tassels brushed against my face.

Elizabeth wrapped her thin arms around my shoulders, hugging me there. We both heard the murmur of Chinese coming from the stairwell leading to the captain's cabin. She let go, backing up a bit so that she wasn't obstructing the captain of the _Empress_' view of me.

"You look stunning," he whispered, his lips near my ear. I nodded my thanks, not wishing to blow this at all. Slowly, he walked towards a small wooden table that was covered in a beautiful silver bowl. I saw him take the short branch within it and swirl the contents.

"By this time tomorrow, we will arrive at Shipwreck Cove," he began, not looking at me. "And you will be free. _Calypso_."

There it was.

He finally said it out in the open.

And Elizabeth was shocked.

"_Excuse me_?" she breathed. I glared at her, trying to make sure she kept quiet. Or it'd be her head.

Sao Feng followed my antics, then became placid again and dipped his fingers in what I knew now was water. "Not a name you fancy, out of the many that you have, but it is what we call you."

"We being who?" Elizabeth intervened again. This time I turned right around and shook my head vigilantly.

"Quiet," he spat at her, but now my anger was at him. He had no right to be angry with her. She was only curious.

"Leave her be, she was merely asking a blameless question," I told him harshly. His gaze snapped to me and he dried his hands on a scarf he had up his sleeve.

"You confirm it," he replied without really helping the matter. He took a bite of his leaf, coming closer to me, as I began to back away towards a large wooden pole.

"Confirm what?" I asked innocently. "You've told me nothing." He needn't have. I already knew all.

"The Brethren Court, not I," he replied. "The first Brethren Court whose decision -" He slammed a fist onto the pole while circling it slowly "- I would have opposed, bound you to human form, so the rule of the seas would belong to man and not -"

"- to me," I finished. He nodded knowingly and Elizabeth looked at him suspiciously.

"But one such as you should never be anything less than what you are," he added quietly, almost sensually. It made me want to gag.

There was only one man I wanted to be in such close proximity with and he was not it.

"Pretty speech from a captor, but word's whispered through prison bars loose their charm," I replied bitterly. I'd rather not be known as Calypso and during the ceremony of release, have nothing happen.

Sao Feng smiled a bit. "Can I be blamed for my efforts? All men are drawn to the sea, perilous though it may be."

"And some men offer desire as justification for their crimes," Elizabeth said through barred teeth. He barely took any notice to her.

"I offer simply my desire," he whispered.

"And in return?" I inquired.

"I would have your gifts, should you choose to give them."

I nodded in understanding, coming a bit closer as to greaten the dramatic effect I would have on this part.

"And if I should choose _not_?" Obviously this had occurred to him, and his pupils dilated greatly.

"Then I will take…" Elizabeth made to grab my arm, but he swatted her away and walked me towards the pole. I was now rubbing up against him and his breath was hot against my mouth. "Your fury."

Then his chapped lips were upon mine, and I could barely breathe as he tried to plunge his tongue into my mouth. I struggled to push him off, and Elizabeth, seeing this, took hold of his shoulders and yanked him away.

I bit his lip as well just before he was thrown away. He touched the place were blood was now dripping down his chin. Panting, I grabbed Elizabeth and held her close.

"You b-"

Ear-shattering and head-turning, a cannonball flew through the wall, making everything fly. My headdress flew off my head, and my hair was now falling a bit. Hurriedly, I made to strip myself of the heavier things, and once I was only in my blue dress, I began to run, but Elizabeth grabbed my arm.

Turning, I saw Sao Feng lying against the unharmed wall. At first I thought he was just struck with shock by the sound, but I saw a huge piece of wood stuck in his abdomen. I almost go sick to my stomach looking at the blood flowing around the chunk from his wound.

"Here," he groaned. "Please." Shaking, I walked forwards, but fell when another blow came from above. I was now on top of Sao Feng, but not touching his wound.

He pulled a cord from his neck, the one with the black shell, and held it out to me. "With all nine Pieces of Eight, you will be free." I could only stare at him in fright, in shock, but his face contorted into force. "Take it!" he pushed, and held out with a quivering arm the necklace. I took it gingerly, not daring to remove my gaze. "You are captain now."

"_What_?" I hoarsely breathed.

He suddenly grabbed my wrist, pulling me close so his lips were against my ear. In the background, I heard a man enter, screaming about something, but didn't care. All that mattered was that, because of me, Sao Feng was dead.

"Go in my place to Shipwreck Cove," he barely managed to say. "Forgive me…_Calypso_."

Then he became limp.

I swelled with guilt, with sadness, with anger. Slowly, I backed away, not daring to look at the necklace. Tai Huang was standing at the door, looking flustered.

"What did he tell you?" he asked loudly. "What did he say?"

I ignored him completely and instead hurried towards Elizabeth. Her face shone with newly produced tears and one hand was on her mouth, holding back sobs. I held the cord to her.

"He made you captain," I lied shakily. It must've shown that I was lying, because she shook her head at me.

"No, Emberlynn, he made you -"

"He made Calypso captain, Elizabeth!" I nearly shrieked. I was close to crying. "Please. I can't. I just…can't." She shook her head again.

"Emberlynn, he spoke to you," she forcefully told me. Then she turned to Tai Huang.

"He made her captain," she told him. He looked outraged, and hurried up the staircase. Elizabeth took hold of my hand - the one not holding the cord - and dragged me up, too.

On deck, we were immediately taken hold of by three British men. Their cutlasses were held to our throats, and I heard Tai Huang mutter, "You are not my captain."

"Elizabeth," someone muttered. I looked down and saw someone familiar in a white wig say from down the stairs. He looked at me and added, "Emberlynn."

"James. James!" Elizabeth broke free of the man's grip and I followed quickly, nodding at the men, who threatened me with their swords. I flipped them the bird and hurried towards James Norrington.

After hugging Elizabeth, he squeezed me and I returned it wholeheartedly. It felt wonderful.

"Thank God you're alive," he said. "You're father will be overjoyed to know you're safe." I felt my heart plummet as he said this to Elizabeth.

"My father's dead," she reminded him. He looked stunned.

"No, that can't be true, he returned to England," he tried to tell her. I shook my head and tried not to cry again.

"Did Lord Beckett tell you that, James?" I asked. He looked at me briefly, then looked back at me.

A little ways away, speaking to the crew, a harsh voice called, "Who among you do you name as captain?"

I turned and saw Jones. He looked as sickeningly tentacley and cephalopod like as usual. All the men, following Tai Huang's example, pointed to me. James looked stunned.

"Captain?" Jones asked in shock and disbelief.

"Tow the ship," James ordered. "Put the prisoners in the brig. The captain shall have my quarters, as well as her friend." He gave Elizabeth a meaningful look.

Jones spat a bit and limped away. I entwined my fingers with Elizabeth's and squeezed her hand.

"Thank you, sir," she countered bitterly. "But I think we'd prefer to remain with our crew." She made to turn, but he held her back, whining her name.

"Elizabeth. I swear. I did not know." He looked so decrepit and ghastly and almost as close to tears as I was. But this was someone's father, not some goldfish you accidentally killed.

"Know what?" she asked. "What side you chose?" She yanked her arm free from his grip and backed up, taking me with her. "Well now you do."

The fish people walked us all towards the brig, leaving James and his broken heart. I didn't care at the moment. I was worried sick about Elizabeth, about myself. About Jack.

Lord, I hadn't even thought about what he would've done when he found out what I did. He'd be driven mad with anger at my decision and worry that I would be safe. My stomach tightened in knots as we were placed in the cells. Or rather, thrown, as I hit the cell wall roughly. I hissed in pain as the unbelievably strong rust bit into my shoulders. I was sure I'd be bleeding soon enough.

One of the crewmen who had pushed me in had taken hold of one of my breasts, making me shriek, so now I also felt violated. The only consolation was knowing that I wasn't alone. Elizabeth was here and we were together. We wouldn't be broken.

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**My favorite line from Elizabeth EVER is: "Pretty speech from a captor, but word's whispered through prison bars lose their charm." I had to let Emberlynn say it :)**

**Would you mind reviewing? Take two minutes, maybe less, out of your day and tell me specifically what you liked, what you hated, anything and everything. I accept all.**


	18. Damn You, Bootstrap

**Here it is, the 'Bootstrap' scene and the 'Escape' scene. It's okay, I suppose, a little lengthy but good. Review! Sorry for the wait, my computer was being a bitch cause Allie spilt coffee on it, so we had to get a new one. Thankfully, I was smart and had everything on a harddrive, including this chapter :) and the next, cause I write really fast**

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"Bootstrap?"

I looked up from my seat on the grimy, barnacled bench. Elizabeth was leaning against the cell, trying to speak to each man who passed. The one she just asked laughed maliciously. She moved a bit farther to one washing the ground pathetically (it would take more than a mop and a bucket of sea water to wash this ship).

"Bootstrap? Bill Turner?" she asked hopelessly. The man looked back down at his work, gritting his teeth.

'Bootstrap' Bill Turner? I could only assume it was William's father. Though why she was searching for him was beyond me. But, then again, William said that he needed the _Pearl _to free his father, so his paternal was probably a prisoner.

"_Bootstrap_," a scratchy voice next to me asked. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I realized that the slight image of a face hidden behind barnacles was real. I had only thought it was my eyesight going, but lips beneath it were moving, too. Elizabeth turned to see him. "You know my name," Bootstrap continued.

"Yes, I know your son," she explained quietly. She looked afraid, her bottom lip was quivering. Bootstrap lowered his eyebrows, looking around his surroundings, trying to remember his son. "Will Turner."

"William!" he said with hope. Elizabeth nodded, and Bootstrap cried out triumphantly, standing up. The clams and such on the walls that he had been leaning into moved away, as did his arms that flew out and hit me in the shoulder. I cried out in pain, but he barely noticed. Now I was sore and thought he was insane.

Though the older man did look like Will, behind the moss and other arthropods.

"He made it!" he cried overjoyed. "He's alive! And now he sends you to tell me that he's coming for me! Aha!" He laughed loudly. "God's wounds! He's on his way!"

Elizabeth nodded furtively. "Yes, Will is alive," she replied. "And he wants to help you." Bootstrap seemed to suddenly hunch a bit more, and when he spoke again, he was quiet.

"He can't help me," he told her. "He won't come."

"But you're his father," Elizabeth reasoned. He put a finger in her face.

"I know you," he muttered. "He spoke of you. He can't save me, he can't come because of you!"

I rose quickly, not about to let her get beat up by some random man who had never spoken to her.

"That is hardly appropriate to say, Mr. Turner," I scolded. His watery eyes came to rest on me. "You don't even know her, so who are you to make rash judgements?"

"Trust me, Emberlynn, it's in their blood," Elizabeth murmured.

"Who're you?" he asked quietly.

"Emberlynn."

"Have you ever heard of Jack Sparrow?"

I shuddered at the name, and butterflies filled my gut. "Yes, I have," I replied evenly.

"Did you know that he is an unfeeling boar?" he inquired gently. I glared at him lividly.

"How would you know?" I angrily cried. "Have you loved him? Have you felt like this? Because if you haven't, you best keep you damned mouth shut."

Elizabeth took my arm pulling me back a bit so that I wouldn't hurt him. Bootstrap didn't look fazed by my outburst.

"You are in love with Sparrow," he muttered. I bit my lip and tried not to let the tears roll down my face. Bootstrap turned to Elizabeth, completely ignoring my soon to become blubbering.

"And you. You are Elizabeth," he added. She nodded.

"Yes, I'm Elizabeth," she confirmed. He withdrew himself from her completely while I let the tears run freely down my cheeks.

"If Jones be slain, he who slays him must take his place. Captain forever. The _Dutchman _must _always _have a captain. And if he saves me, he loses you." Now I understood.

Elizabeth slowly nodded, murmuring, "I see," and I wiped away a single tear that fell down her pretty face.

"He won't pick me," Bootstrap finished. "I wouldn't pick me. Tell him not to come. Tell him to stay away. Tell him it's too late. I'm already a part of the ship. And the crew." He had settled down into his place on the bench again, closing his wet eyes and looking peaceful.

Elizabeth, holding back sobs, went forward and shook his knee. "Bootstrap?"

His eyes opened as though he'd just awoken and he looked surprised. "You know my name. You know my name."

"Yes, I know your son," she wept.

"William!" he cried. "He's coming for me! Wait and see! You'll see. He promised." And then, he fell back into his trance-like state.

I dropped onto a different bench, one I hopped that wasn't inhabited by a crewman gone mad. Tears were still flowing freely so that my face was drenched. Elizabeth slowly walked over and took a seat next to me.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled. She shook her head at me, though.

"No, it's my fault," she replied, wiping her tears away. "No, I should've seen this coming…God, I feel like such an idiot."

I wrapped a bare arm around her, squeezing her warmly. She sniffed loudly into her sleeve. It was terrible to see her in such a state.

"Elizabeth, please listen to me," I murmured. "This isn't your fault. You didn't choose to fall in love with Will! And even if you had, it didn't effect Bootstrap's decision to remain on this crew. And, hell, if Will wants to go after his father, so be it. He still loves you unconditionally. And you love him. And nothing can get in the way of that." I breathed deeply the heady scent of the ocean. "Love is impenetrable."

Elizabeth sniffed again, wiping her nose, and sighed. I warmed both of us up by rubbing her right arm. I was freezing and would soon enough catch something if I didn't find a warmer climate. That, or some sort of coat. But seeing as every other man, and Elizabeth, were just as frozen as I was, there was little chance I would get one.

Damn, I wished I had Ragetti's old jacket.

And so hours passed.

The brig was possibly the most uninteresting place on earth. I would've had an easier job finding something to do in the desert. Much of the crew began to fall asleep, never letting the catnap last in worry that some fish person would see him and chop off his head. Elizabeth followed suit, but I shook her awake when the blowfish man who had been swabbing the deck stared at us for a long time, scrutinizing. She had smiled falsely and then leant wearily on me again.

Elizabeth rose after a while, claiming that she could no longer feel her ass, and went to lean against a post. I dropped down onto her place and stared up at the grimy ceiling. Tendrils of sopping seaweed and dead crustaceans were stuck on and would probably not come off for centuries.

My life was ending.

Less than a year ago, I had had a home. A warm home, albeit humid, but still better than freezing in some ship for hours on end. Tia had been kind and welcoming and not judgemental in any way. She'd taught me the ways of reading palms and crab claws and was in the works of teaching me how to reincarnate the dead, practicing on Barbossa, when Jack had come along.

And I was sucked away on a whirlwind adventure. Jack Sparrow was the ringleader, flamboyant and pompous, yet humble at times and in his own way. Gibbs was first mate, later on, Barbossa attempted to become captain instead of Jack. Elizabeth was a sweet soul. William was irresistible with his boyish looks and charm. Ragetti made me blush from how much he cared.

I thought it would be fun after that. Until we had to go to places unheard of by many, sought out by few, and returned from by none. I'd nearly died, fought colds multiple times, beaten and killed people. I'd learned what true happiness was, true sadness, true misery. I'd learned how to love.

Everything that I thought was only myth, residing in those fairytales your mama would read to you at night, had in fact happened to me.

Jack's arrogant face, gold teeth and all, crossed my mind and I shivered in delight. I had long ago faced that truth: that I loved Captain Jack Sparrow. Whether he returned the feeling or not wasn't really a concern, as I was euphoric from just one-way love. Two kisses later, I knew the emotion was mutual.

My mind wandered to what he would think of me. What he thought right now. Whether he was worrying about my wellbeing or not. Whether he was having those same sensual dreams I had had late at night that made me feel unexplainably precious. I wondered if he wanted me back on his vessel as much as I wanted to be back.

A loud click elicited from the door of the brig. I sat up quickly, staring at it's disgusting black texture. Easily seen behind the dark bars in his white and blue was James Norrington unlocking us from the brig. This shocked me beyond words.

"Come with me," he said quietly. I stood up, walking slowly towards him. His eyes looked tired and his gaze continuously flickered to down the hall. That didn't surprise me. If he was caught letting prisoners escape, he'd most definitely be killed. Or, if pirates so wished it, marooned. I wasn't sure which was worse.

"Quickly!" he added when no one moved. They all looked at me, including Elizabeth. I gradually stepped in front of him, and was unhappy to find that his chin was to my forehead.

"Why should we trust you?" I asked, looking up. He seemed a bit offended at this comment, but that didn't bother me. "You are, after all, on _their _side."

"It's either sit here and rot away, or come with me and escape. At least most of you will manage to make it," he insisted. I looked around at my crew - Lord, I hated saying that - and nodded curtly. Tai Huang said something in Chinese to them and they all led each other out. Elizabeth stood at the door with me, waiting for everyone to finish.

"What're you doing?" she asked in a murmur. His gaze, so full of compassion and love, lingered on her with meaningful hope.

"Choosing a side."

James managed to smuggle everyone up on deck and around the edge the edge so no fish crew would see us. As we neared the stern of the ship, I realized that there were ropes leading between us and the _Empress_.

"Do not go to Shipwreck Cove," James told Elizabeth and I as we landed behind the rail that the rest of the crew were climbing on. I looked at him in disbelief. "Beckett knows of the meeting of the Brethren. I fear there may be a traitor among them."

Elizabeth was not swayed, however, by this one act of kindness, and glared at him. She was obviously still hurt by his 'not knowing' about her father's death.

"It's too late to earn my forgiveness," she mumbled through gritted teeth. He still looked scared as ever.

"I had nothing to do with your father's death," he tried to insist. "Although that doesn't absolve me of my other sins." She stared out on the water, trying to avoid his gaze.

"Come with us," she finally said. He stared at her, as did I. Was she serious? She finally looked at him and repeated, "James, come with me."

James looked ready to reply, but a cry from above shook him and all three of us looked up. Bootstrap, miraculously, was somehow able to free himself from his stuck on place on the wall in the brig and was now towering over us. Surely his loudness would wake any sleeping crewmen, and call to attention those awake. James, whose arms were pushing Elizabeth and I back a bit, didn't tear his eyes from the place Bootstrap left.

"Go, I will follow," he tried to tell her. It was an obvious lie, and I pointed out so.

"You're lying," I barely manage. He looked at me, giving me a tight hug that I couldn't return, and then turned to Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth Swann, our destinies have been entwined, but never joined." And then he kissed her. I covered my eyes and quickly began to climb the rope, not bothering with my legs as they were weak and I would rather not have Bootstrap, who was approaching James rapidly, see up my skirt.

As they grew farther and farther, I heard loud, brouhaha chanting, and Elizabeth screamed to James. He quickly took out his pistol and shot the line that connected everything.

I plummeted, as did some of the crew and Elizabeth, and barely saw through sea-watery eyes James being stabbed in the stomach by Bootstrap. I nearly choked as tears welled up even more.

A short ways away, Elizabeth was screaming his name, as though repeating it would bring him back. I took hold of her arm and turned her around, leading her to the Empress. A ladder was hanging from it's side and I helped her up, then let myself climb it.

Once onboard, I opened my arms and let Elizabeth fall into them. She began to sob, only drenching my dress more so, but I cared little. My friend needed me and I wasn't about to let her down.

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**There we are, another chapter :) "No reason to fret. Just a prick of the finger, few drops of blood," that's what's going on in my head as I wrote this**

**Also, I called my jacket a salad today xD Thought I'd let you know**

**Review! I love em with alllll my heart, as I love the reviewers :)**


	19. The Fourth Brethren Court

**I do believe that THIS is the longest chapter I've written. On Word, it reached about 5 and a quarter pages :P I hope you enjoy it though :):)**

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A day past, full of scurrying and much yelling, that we sailed to Shipwreck Cove. Elizabeth, obviously not taking James' last piece of advice, informed me that it would be best to head there as quickly as possible. I had no rebuttal, so away we went.

Oddly enough, although I really detested the thought of being in a position of power - I was dead afraid of screwing up, which I often did, and getting blamed - I was doing an alright job as captain. Being aboard the _Pearl _with Jack's orders flying all the time must've gotten into my brain, because I knew what everything meant. And no man dared question me about it.

Several hours into our voyage, something caught my attention: my dress was becoming unbearably tricky. It continuously caught onto nails in the floorboards, making me stop or trip and thus losing time we could've been using better. I quickly gave my duty to someone else and had Elizabeth sneak into the captain's cabin to help me fix the problem.

Elizabeth had become a machine since James' death. She never smiled, nor showed any emotion of any type to anyone. It was frightening, really. All she did was work, eat, and occasionally sleep. I decided now was the time to confront her.

"It wasn't your fault, you know," I told her soothingly while we both examined the end of the blue dress. She didn't look up.

"I'm sure I don't know wha -"

"Bullshit, Elizabeth!" She looked up, not a bit affronted by my language. "James chose his path. He saved us, and that's all we can focus on! There's nothing left for you to wallow in."

She sniffed, but didn't cry. In the end, we decided ripping a good foot or so off would make everything easier. And it did, in fact. The only problem was having the men of the ship - so the entire crew, minus Elizabeth - stare at my legs when I passed. I'd slap them upside the head, but it little effected their eyesight.

Shipwreck Cove was beautiful. As we neared it close to nightfall, seeing a million twinkling candles from the farthest distance, I gave the wheel to Tai Huang and simply watched.

It was magnificent. The cove was set on a dormant volcano, covered from top to bottom in ruined ships. Many ships that weren't shipwrecked were strewn along the water crashing against the foot of the island. We sailed with relative smoothness, stopping just in front of a broken mast.

"Wow," I murmured. Tai Huang chuckled a bit.

"Barbossa has called a meeting that hasn't been called in our lifetime, it _should _look splendid," he said. I smiled, then went below to get a belt and several weapons. I decided easily upon a thick black one, and stuck onto it a pistol and a sword. Elizabeth currently held my favorite, but I didn't mind too much. I heard some of the crew beginning to get off, and I followed suit.

Elizabeth was second in the line, following Tai Huang, and I was last. We rounded through the many shipwrecks, passing a few dead carcasses. Tai Huang was leading intricately, not in a single path, but all around.

It seemed alright, until I blinked and the crew were out of my sight.

I almost cried out to see if they could hear me, but decided against it. I didn't know what other pirates would be there, whether they were friend or foe. James did mention that Beckett new about the Brethren meeting here, so it was possible that they could find me and kill me without a second thought. I wasn't about to take that risk. Not when I was so close to seeing Jack again.

Moving slowly and silently through from deck to deck, ship to ship, I looked for something or someone familiar. Nothing could be seen besides splintery wood and bones everywhere. I nearly tripped over a pail that looked filled with a blood and seawater mixture. And it smelt far worse.

In the distance, I heard three loud thumps, followed by silence, and then a gruff voice. I knew immediately it was Barbossa's.

"As he who issued summons, I convene this the Fourth Brethren Court!" he called loudly, and there was scattered, almost inaudible muttering and scraping of chairs. With little other choice, I began to head in a twisting path towards the sound of Barbossa's voice.

"To confirm your lordship and right to be heard, present now your pieces of eight, my follow cap'n's!"

More muttering, but so quiet that it was difficult to track it. The inside of the ship I now stood in - named the _Death Seeker_, which I cringed at - was creaking audibly, tipping, or maybe that was just in my mind, precariously. Just being on a ship, whether it was docked or sailing, gave me the feeling that it was lurching to and fro.

"SPARROW!" I nearly jumped out of my skin when the sound of a Spanish yell was so loud, so clear, that it seemed to come from just below me. A large, choppy hole in the floor let in yellow light, and I knelt down a bit to see.

"Might I point out that we are still short one pirate lord," Jack's voice began, though I couldn't see him. All that was in my line of vision was a very long table and the heads of a Chinese woman, a black man, a Hindu fellow, and some over make-upped guy with a wig. Oh, and many people I assumed to be all their crewmen. "And I'm as content as a cucumber to wait until Sao Feng joins us."

"Sao Feng is dead," Elizabeth suddenly announced. I tried to see her, but to no avail. Apparently, she had just arrived, as many of the pirate lords began to mumble and speak. "He fell to the _Flying Dutchman_." I listened as the sound of a sword being unsheathed, and then being plunged into something wooden hit my ears. She had put my sword into something.

"And made you captain?" Jack asked in disbelief. "They're just giving the bloody title away now."

I could've sworn Elizabeth began to say something that started with, "Well…" But I wasn't sure. The ground around me was beginning to crack and shudder and I tried to hold onto something, but failed miserably. The next thing I knew, I was falling, and then hit the table with a dull thud.

Silence ensued. Through shaken eyes, I saw the Chinese woman and black man staring at me, as was everyone else. Along with soreness from falling and landing on splintery wood shards and a heavy table, I also felt violated. Turning my head, I saw that Pintel, Ragetti, and even Gibbs were staring down my dress. I quickly closed my legs.

"Ah, Emberlynn!" I looked over and saw Jack smiling at me broadly, his arm outstretched. Grinning back, I took it and let him pull me to the floor. "Bloody hell, woman, you gave me a right scare."

"My apologies, Captain Sparrow," I replied cheekily. He grinned even wider, if that were possible. Elizabeth appeared between us.

"No, Jack, Sao Feng made _Emberlynn _captain," she told him, then pulled away. He gawked at me and I tried not to blush furiously. "Listen to me!" she screamed once next to Barbossa. "Our location has been betrayed. Jones is under the command of Lord Beckett. They're on their way here."

"Who _is _this betrayer?" the black man asked. Now that I had a better look at him, I realized who he was: Gentleman Jocard.

"Not likely anyone among us!" Barbossa cried back.

"Where's Will?" Elizabeth suddenly breathed.

"Not among us," Jack told her. I hit him in the gut, but he couldn't stop smiling at me.

"And it matters not how they found us," Barbossa continued, "The question is what will we do now that they have?"

"We fight!" Elizabeth and I replied to all at the same time. Everyone laughed heartily, including Jack, but the thought was arrestingly tempting.

"Shipwreck Cove is a fortress," the Chinese woman, Mistress Ching told us. "A well-supplied fortress! There is no need to fight if they cannot get to us!" Much of the group nodded in agreement.

"There be a third course," Barbossa slowly started. Relative quiet took over as he stomped to the right a bit. "In another age, at this very spot, the First Brethren Court captured the sea goddess and bound her in her bones." Everyone nodded in agreement, but Barbossa shook his head. "That was a mistake.

"Oh, we tamed the seas for ourselves, aye," he continued, "But opened the door to Beckett, and his ilk! Better were the days when mastery of seas came not from bargains struck with eldritch creatures, but from the sweat of a man's brow and the strength of his back alone! Y'all know this to be true!" More nodding, and he went back to his place between Elizabeth and I.

"Gentlemen, _ladies_," he looked at me specifically as he said this. "We must free Calypso."

The most tense silence took over, one that was far worse than any war, and then raucous screaming. Barbossa's life and tongue were being threatened by all, and Jack optioned to trim his 'scraggly beard' as well. I couldn't help but agree with them a bit. Calypso - or rather, Tia - was most wild and much rougher and angrier than usual when she was back to where she belonged. As much as I loved her, it was better to leave her be.

"Sao Feng would've agreed with Barbossa!" Tai Huang proclaimed. Barbossa agreed with this statement wholeheartedly.

"Calypso was our enemy then," Jocard retorted. "She will be our enemy now!"

"And it's unlikely 'er mood's improved," Capitaine Chevalle added. (How did I know all their names?)

"I will still agree with Sao Feng," the Spanish man, Villanueva, snapped back. "We release Calypso!"

"You _t'reaten _me?" Chevalle asked incredulously, coming towards Villanueva.

"I silence you!" But he was punched square in the jaw. Soon enough, everyone was in the brawl that was on top of the table, full of broken glass and gunshots. The only people not fighting were Jack, Barbossa, Elizabeth, myself, and our crew. Bless them.

"This is madness," I muttered in shock.

"This is politics," Jack replied. I chuckled.

"Meanwhile, our enemies are bearing down upon us," Elizabeth added.

"If they not be here already," Barbossa finished. I shook my head. This was completely and utterly mad.

Then again, pirates were rather mad themselves.

I began to climb onto the table, finally fed up with the fight that had gone on long enough. I tried screaming, but to no avail. Jack cleared his throat and pointed to my pistol in my belt. With a sigh, I took it out and shot it upwards, creating the loudest bang of all.

"OI!" I hollered. They all stared at me in disbelief. Jack helped me down as Barbossa started to speak again.

"It was the First Court what imprisoned Calypso," he announced. "We should be the ones to set her free, and in her gratitude, she will see fit to grant us boons!"

"Whose boons?" Jack asked. "Your boons? 'Utterly deceptive twaddle speak,' says I." I shook my head.

"If ya have a better option, please, share!"

Jack thought for a moment, then, to everyone's shock, said, "Cuttlefish."

Yup. He was insane.

"Aye?" He began to move to his left around several pirate lords. "Let us not, dear friends, forget our dear friends, the cuttlefish!"

I felt the urge to add, "Bloody glorious little sausages, don't you agree?" Jack nodded to me encouragingly.

"Pin them up together and they will devour each other without a second thought," he continued. "Human nature, i'n'it? Or…_fish _nature. So, yes, we could hold up here, well-provisioned and well-armed, and half of us would be dead within the month, which seems quite grim to me any way you slice it. Or, as my learned colleague so naively suggests, we can release Calypso, and we can pray she will be merciful." He ducked down to a short man's height. "I rather doubt it. Can we, in fact, pretend that she is anything other woman scorned like which fury hell hath no?" Many nodded in agreement. "We cannot. _Res ipso loquitur tabula in naufragio_, we are left with but one option. I agree with, and I cannot believe the words are coming out of me mouth…" He struggled to speak for a moment, then pointed towards Elizabeth. "Miss. Swann. We must fight."

"You've always run away from a fight!" Barbossa cried.

"Have not."

"You have so."

"Have not."

"You have so!"

"Have not!

"You have so, and you know it!"

"Have not, slander and calumny. I have only ever embraced that oldest and noblest of pirate traditions. I submit that, here now, that is what we all must do. We must fight, to run away!"

"Aye!" Gibbs cried. Everyone repeated the statement and I just shook my head. Honestly, Jack.

"As per the Code, an act of war, and this be exactly that, can only be declared by the Pirate King," Barbossa told everyone. Jack looked like young child being told he couldn't have a toy.

"You made that up!" he whined.

Barbossa grinned. "Did I know? I call on Cap'n Teague, Keeper of the Code!" Jack's face fell even more so. I noticed from the corner of my eye Sri Sumbhajee elbow one of his men.

"Sri Sumbhajee proclaims this _all _to be folly!" he screamed. "Hang the Code! Who cares -"

A loud gunshot rang clear and true, and I muffled a scream with my hand. Everyone looked from the dropped body of Sri Sumbhajee's man towards where the shot had come from.

A slightly older fellow with black dreadlocks, a bandana around his head, a hat that looked to be his pride, and a gun near his mouth was there. He blew away the smoke that it emitted, and muttered, "The Code is the law."

As he came closer to the table, I noticed that he had scars covering his worn looking face. Beads and trinkets were knotted into the dreads. He looked like an older version of Jack.

"You're in my way, boy," he said in that same, deep, almost scary voice. I couldn't help but cringe. Jack sidestepped out of this man's way. It was only then that I realized who this man was.

Jack's father. I couldn't be sure, but he damn looked like it.

Teague motioned to the door and two exceptionally elderly men, shaking and quivering, walked towards the table with a giant book in their hands. They placed it there in front of the black-haired man.

Teague also whistled towards the door they had come from and a dog that everyone else recognized scurried to him, a key ring holding only one key in his mouth. He mumbled, "Sea turtles, mate," to the ones questioning the dog's presence, which only proved to confuse them and myself even more.

A small click and the book was opened to reveal huge yellowing pages. One of his weathered fingers ran down the handwritten words, searching for certain things, and when he found it, he looked up, still calm.

"Barbossa is right," he breathed. Why was his voice so quiet?

"Hang on a minute," Jack intervened as Teague went towards a throne like chair surrounded by candles behind him. He mumbled the words under his breath, then unexpectedly look up at me. "Can you come here a minute, love? See if this makes sense to you."

I felt my face heat up, but made my way through the crowd of people to Jack. He pointed to the line and I read it to myself. It did, in fact, point out that Barbossa's exclamation was correct.

"Fancy that?" I muttered. He sighed.

"There's not been a King seence ze First Court," Chevalle pointed out. "And that's not likely to change."

"Not likely," Teague mumbled.

"Why not?" I asked Jack. I could see at the other end of the table that Gibbs, Barbossa, and Elizabeth were having the same discussion.

"King's selected by popular vote, love," he told me gently. "And pirates, being the selfish bunch we are, do not vote for others. Only themselves." Then he turned to all and announced, "But I call for a vote anyways!"

Barbossa huffed in exasperation. Everyone began to speak at once again. Each pirate, with Teague's guitar picking in the background, began to rise and proclaimed themselves. My turn came and, sighing, I said, "Emberlynn." Jack's vote came and went, and you could hear a pin drop just after.

"Emberlynn," he had repeated. My stomach nearly dropped.

"What?" I asked in shock. He grinned down at me.

"I know, curious, ain't it, love?"

"No, no, no, no, can you withdraw a vote?" I asked loudly over everyone's screams of rage. I couldn't be placed as King. I _hated _power, I was afraid of it, I would fail miserably and it would be all my fault.

But I could blame Jack, I suppose.

"Am I to understand that you lot will _not _be keeping to the Code, then?" he asked over the loud talking. Teague broke a string on his guitar and I nearly fainted. _Damn you, Jack Sparrow. _Everyone silenced_._

"Very well," Mistress Ching said. "What say you, Captain Emberlynn, King of the Brethren Court?"

All eyes were on me. Some people were taking out parchment and quills to take notes. I felt my face heat up, but a look at Jack, and then at Elizabeth, who nodded to follow my gut, assured me I'd be alright.

"Prepare all your ships, mates," I said with courage. "At dawn, we're at war with the East India Trading Company."

Sri Sumbhajee stood, taller than I expected, and said in the girliest, most high-pitched voice, "And so, we shall go to war!"

Everyone agreed loudly and I jumped onto the table, swinging my legs over the edge. I was now facing Teague and Jack, who were speaking. Oddly enough, I could hear them over the commotion of everyone leaving.

"What?" Jack asked innocently. "You don't believe it was a…_wise _decision? Besides, you've seen it all, done it all, you survived. That's the trick, i'n'it? To survive?"

"It's not just about livin' forever, Jackie," Teague replied, rising. "The trick is livin' with yourself forever. And, perhaps, with another." His dark, battered eyes fell on me. I tried not to blush and look away.

"Whose she?"

"You know who she is."

"You _know _what I meant, boy."

Jack sighed, then turned to me and nodded his head awkwardly towards Teague. I jumped off the table and slowly came towards the pair. I almost felt out of place between the identical men. Jack wrapped his arm around me.

"Love, this is me dad," he said under his breath. I took Teague's hand, as he kissed it. Well, at least some pirates were gentlemen.

"Lovely to meet you, Emberlynn," he said in a hushed tone. I nodded, my stomach in nervous knots.

"And you, Captain Teague," I replied. I could almost feel Jack's smile and his gaze on me. Teague was lovely, the only thing I didn't enjoy about him was the tens of crosses hung in his hair and ears.

"Well, off we go, love," he finished, and we turned, leaving.

"He seems nice," I commented. Jack snorted.

"He scares you," he replied. I nodded, not bothering to lie. "He scares many, love, don't worry." I smiled and continued on.

But now, we were at war.

* * *

**Thoughts on my exceptionally long chapter? I think it's alright, a little too much already used dialogue *cough**cough***

**Review, _s'il vous plait _:) Because I gave you two chapters in one day**


	20. A Trade

**DUN, DUN, DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHN! I'm baaaaaaaaack :)**

**I hope that you shall enjoy this chapter as throroughly as my others. It's the negotiatian, and Emberlynn is going to POWN someone :)**

* * *

The preparations began immediately. Even as Jack and I stepped onto the deck of the _Black Pearl_, I saw many a person running around, getting cannons, spears, rifles, swords, anything and everything that might be of use to us during the war. I removed Jack's arm to help Ragetti lift a huge barrel of gunpowder.

There was no time to talk, to rest, to eat, to sleep, to do anything but get ready for the impending fate that would come. The night passed by in a bout of dark skies and loud thumps. I didn't even attempt to slumber, as I was too worried about what may happen.

It was going to be a disaster. I could sense it, Tia could sense it, even Jack - though he held his head high and pretended not to be worried - could sense it. No one wasn't on edge. The sound of dropping a fork on the floor could have easily started an all-out rage. It was more tense aboard the _Black Pearl _than I had ever seen.

Dawn approached far too quickly for my liking, for anyone's liking, and we all stood on the deck in the fog and mist for what seemed like hours but was only a few minutes. The gray sky loomed over the eight ships belonging to the Pirate Lords. My own ship - damn, I hated saying that - was being watched and led by Tai Huang. I just couldn't leave Elizabeth and Jack, especially not now. In our times of need.

One ship in the far distance suddenly came into semi-view. Marty, hanging from netting on the side of the ship, screamed out, "The enemy is here! Let's take her!"

Everyone cheered in agreement. I still couldn't shake off the feeling of wrongness. Subconsciously, I squeezed Jack's arm and he smiled a bit.

Then we saw it. A massive fleet of ships, huge and vast and far more than eight. Led by Beckett, I watched in fright as they appeared from the mist. There was no end to their amounts.

Cotton's parrot flew off his shoulder and towards a neighbouring island, squawking, "Abandon ship! Abandon ship!"

Everyone looked at Jack, some eyes falling on myself, but mostly Jack. I nearly stepped back. He smiled weakly and muttered, "Parley?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "D'you think there's any possibility they'll come to some sort of agreement with us?" Most everyone shook their heads, but Jack rose and hand and scurried towards her, me in tow.

"Nothing's impossible, love," he told her surely. "Let us run up a flag of truce and we can come to terms with each other. We'll do it now!"

Without any permission - then again, he was captain of this vessel - he ran over and did just as he said. There was no movement on anyone's behalf, not even in Beckett's armada, until I saw in the distance a few moments later the lowering of a dinghy, and three of the tiniest people climbing into it. Jack grinned broadly.

"See that? Now, let us go and reach an accord by negotiation, aye?"

* * *

I somehow got sucked into going aboard our own dinghy with Jack, Barbossa, and Elizabeth. I had no real interest in it, but I had a feeling that Jack's more protective instincts were telling him that leaving me alone on a ship filled with men, pirates no less, in the midst of a near-war wasn't the smartest idea.

We reached the spit of land easily. It was hardly more than fifty feet of sand surrounded by shallow water. At the end near the water, farthest from us, were Davy Jones in a bucket of water, a short man in a wig, and William Turner. Barbossa, Elizabeth, Jack, and I walked towards them slowly, dramatically. I nearly turned back halfway, but Jack's hand was firmly on mine and he wouldn't let me turn back now.

Damn him.

Our footprints stopped five feet from the other three.

"You be the cur that led these wolves to our door," Barbossa stated to William bitterly. I didn't wish to stop him. It seemed true enough, without even speaking.

"Don't blame Turner," the wigged man replied calmly. "He was merely the tool of your betrayal. If you wish to see it's grand architect, look to your left."

Elizabeth, Barbossa, and I looked to our lefts and saw Jack. I dropped his hand like a hot potato. This wasn't true. He smiled at everyone else, but his apologetic eyes rested on me.

"My hands are clean in this," he tried to tell us, mostly me. "Figuratively," he added as an afterthought, looking down at his grubby nails. I made a disgusted guttural sound in the back of my throat and shook my head to look back at the others.

"My actions were my own and to my own purpose," William said. "Jack had nothing to do with it."

"Well spoke!" Jack announced. "Listen to the tool."

"_You're _a tool," I spat back under my breath.

The wigged man looked at me curiously, his eyes squinting slightly in the brilliant sun that had peeked out from behind the clouds. I stuck my tongue out at him. I was peeved off at Jack, and was showing it quite a bit.

"Will, Emberlynn and I have been aboard the _Dutchman_," Elizabeth told him, breaking silence. "I understand the burden you bear, but I fear that cause is lost."

"No cause is lost," he replied, "If there is but one fool left to fight for it." His eyes landed on Jack, who nodded pleasingly.

"If Turner wasn't acting on your behalf, Jack," the wigged guy said, "Then how did he come to give me this?" Everyone, including myself, eyed Jack and I shook my head even more, cursing. "You made a deal with me, Jack, to deliver the pirates, and here they are." He tossed the compass at Jack, but I caught it. He continued speaking to Jack though his eyes were on me. "Don't be bashful. Step up, claim your reward."

"Your debt to me is still to be satisfied," Jones' rumbling voice announced. "One hundred years in servitude aboard the _Dutchman_, as a start."

"That debt was paid, mate, with some help," Jack finally replied. His eyes, too, looked at me.

"You escaped!"

"Technically -"

"I propose an exchange," Elizabeth interrupted. I looked at her curiously. Where was she going with this? She nodded reassuringly. "Will leaves with us, and you can take Jack."

"Excuse me?" I asked in shock, my voice hoarse. She shook her head, but I felt fire bubbling in me. I wasn't about to lose Jack again, even if he was a backstabbing tool.

"Done," Will finalized. I gawked at him.

"Undone!" I shrieked furiously.

"Done!" The wigged fellow was smiling broadly.

"Jack's one of the nine Pirate Lords," Barbossa exclaimed to Elizabeth. "You can't _trade him_!"

"I believe I just did, _Captain_," she replied scornfully. Barbossa took out his sword, screaming at Jack, and I shrieked in terror as the tip grazed his bandana. Off came a little beaded cord.

"If ye have somethin' to say, I might be sayin' somethin' as well," Barbossa muttered to Jack while his monkey scrambled to collect the piece.

"First to the finish, then?" Jack replied. He slowly walked forwards, but I grabbed his coarse hand, pulling him back.

"Don't," I begged, nearly losing it. "_Please_." His free hand grazed my cheek soothingly.

"I'll be fine, love." He pulled away, Elizabeth tugging me back to keep me from following him. He and William switched places, and the wigged man moved over and extended an arm near Jones.

"Do you fear death?" Jones spat at him once he had his hat on.

"You've no idea," Jack gulped. The wigged man came forward, but oddly enough, headed to me. I stood taller, and I felt almost like a giant in front of this tiny man.

"Pleased to meet you, Miss. Delaney," he said, holding out his hand. "Lord Cutler Beckett, but Cutler is fine."

I completely ignored his hand, not letting my gaze drift from those cruel eyes. I could tell just by looking at him that he was a sleazy man of nobility who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. I _hated _aristocrats.

"How do you know of me?" I asked quietly. He chuckled, letting his hand drop.

"James Norrington isn't one to keep secrets, Miss. Delaney," he replied. His calm tone made me even more spiteful. At James' name, Elizabeth choked back a sob. Will raised an eyebrow.

"But don't be angry with him," he added. Apparently, my face had contorted into rage and misery, and I tried to smooth it out. "I take full blame for prying the information out of him. And from what he surmised, you interested him greatly, as well as a certain pirate captain."

My eyes flickered to Jack, who was glaring at Beckett with so much hatred that it radiated off to everyone. Even Jones was leaning half a millimetre away from the dreadlocked man that I loved.

"Did he now?" I mumbled. Beckett nodded.

"Yes," he continued. "He spoke of the way Jack looked at you, and how you looked back the exact same way. According to Norrington, he loved you." His gaze turned to Jack, then back tome. "And possibly still does."

I took a step towards him so I was barely a centimetre from his face. "You know nothing of me, or Jack, so forgive me if I beg to differ with you. Never before this have I exchanged even one word with you, or even met you, for that matter. And Jack is a good man, so leave him alone."

"Ah, you haven't told her of our brush up?" Beckett asked Jack, turning his head so he could see the man in question. "Or your brand? Or your many narrow escapes from the noose?" He once again he looked back at me. "Miss. Delaney, Jack Sparrow is anything _but _a good man."

"Captain," I snapped back, and was surprised to hear that Elizabeth, William, Jack, and even Barbossa had said the title with me. "And only to you."

""And half the world," William muttered under his breath. I snapped my neck towards him and pointed a finger.

"You stay out of this!" I hissed, and he took a literal step back, both hands up in surrender.

"Mr. Turner is correct," Beckett calmly finished.

"Cutler?" I suddenly inquired, my voice sweet. He raised his eyebrows subtly. "I have a question for you. Have you ever been in love?"

Obviously, this took him by surprise, as he opened his mouth a bit, gawking. Jack looked taken aback by my query, too. I tried to tell him without words to trust me.

"I didn't suppose so," I went on, beginning to circle him. "You have no heart. You barely have a soul. And that soul, so black and twisted and mangled, longs for one thing: power. Complete and utter power, perturbed by no one and frightening to all.

"Love cannot slake that desire, which only makes me sorrier for your cause. If you weren't such a slimy, underhanded git who takes pride in kicking the weak and bowing to the wealthy, I may have a bit more sympathy. But you are, so I haven't. Mostly it's unhappiness. Unhappiness for you, that you'll never feel the way I fell. Pity that the only true emotion that has ever filled you from head to toe is a yearning for supremacy, for command over every being in Britain, in the world! You can't deny that that is what you crave. And so, I simply pity you."

No one spoke as I back stepped into the line. Beckett was moving his mouth like a fish out of water. Elizabeth and William, both holding each other's hands in a way that made my heart clench, were gawking at me. Jones looked to be almost crying. And Jack…

Oh, Jack.

He was smiling, the tiniest smile ever, in a gentle manner. It hardly moved the corners of his mouth. But it made all the difference to me. I knew that I had done the correct thing.

"Advise your Brethren," Beckett finally said, completely avoiding the subject that was at hand. "You can fight, and all of you will die, or you cannot fight, in which case only most of you will die."

Elizabeth gritted her teeth and came forward. "You murdered my father," she spat.

"He chose his own fate."

"And you have chosen yours. We will fight. And you _will _die."

And we turned around, marching back to our dinghy. I waited, returned Jack's small wave, and headed away.

My stomach squeezed in an uneasy way as I went, not listening to William and Elizabeth speak of my being the Pirate King. I was leaving Jack.

Again.

* * *

**Dammit, Emberlynn, when will you learn? Actually, I rather like the ending :) And her little speech**

**What are your thoughts? I kinda want to do another story after this one is finished (don't worry, I SHALL finish it :D) about either Barbossa/OC, Ragetti/OC, Davy Jones/Calypso, or another Jack/OC. And maybe a Will/OC.**

**In case you couldn't tell, I love me some OC's :):)**

**REVIEW!**


	21. Releasing of Calypso

****

Sorry for my slight tardiness, I've been busy writing the war scene and everything. I'm better at dialogue than actions, so yeah :) HERE IS THE CALYPSO RELEASE SCENE!

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JACK POV

I watched in despair as two of the fish people belonging to Jones' crew stalked off, leaving me alone in the brig to my thoughts. And that was far worse than anything else, even giving an empty threat to Jones at the point of a dull sword.

"Well done, Jack."

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of Emberlynn's voice. Spinning around, I saw her sitting on the grimy bench, her beauty only enhanced in front of such a disgusting, dull atmosphere. It did not suit her whatsoever. She deserved pearls and diamonds and luscious curtains of fine silk.

She was also in a dress much unlike what he was used to seeing. It was far tighter than the corset dear Elizabeth had worn the day he had saved her at Port Royal so long ago, and covered her from her neck to her ankles. The sleeves were long, rimmed and lacy, and all in all, she looked uncomfortable. But there was a sense of smartness looming around her.

"Once again, you have managed to do the accurate contrary of that which you wished to make through with," she explained bitterly. Her words hurt my head - and I loved twisting people's minds with confusing riddles - but I figured it out soon and glared.

"Look, missy," I spat, feeling anger bubble. But another voice cut over. Still hers, oddly enough.

"Oh, yes, wonderful job," she bitterly remarked. This Emberlynn was in a loose dark indigo dog. "Except that you are notorious for getting put into the brig just before a battle."

I gazed between the two for a moment, then widened my arms and said loudly, "Go away!" Emberlynn with the high-collared dress scoffed.

"Back to the repugnant, vile, debauched place known to simple mortals as 'Davy Jones Locker'?" she asked with a titter of laughter.

"Not without you," finished Sarcastic Emberlynn.

"Stab the heart," someone said. I tried to close my eyes and will it all away, but I couldn't. Sitting in the farthest corner, her knees drawn to her chest, her chin on those covered knees was who else but Emberlynn. She was rocking back and forth, muttering to herself between louder statements.

"Not sure I can do that, love," I told her kindly.

"…live forever…_Flying Dutchman'_s captain…" I slowly edged towards her, as did the other two Emberlynn's.

"Ah, but there's the trouble of me being stuck here with you three lovely lasses," I quipped, plonking next to her. She didn't move at all, just rocked. Sarcastic and Logical both rolled their eyes.

"…get out…stab…leave…"

"What, leave the _Pearl_? It's hardly possible, love."

"…me…" I sighed, giving a shaky laugh.

"That's even worse," I replied to her. She saw me through watering, bloodshot eyes, and curled into my side, though the same force field that had been in effect in the Locker was working here, too. She just laid against it, although she seemed to be unable to tell the difference between my flesh and an invisible boundary separating us.

"…do it…you love…_Black Pearl_…but…_do it_!" Mad Emberlynn screeched. I shook my head horribly. My fingers entwined with hers, and I ignored the damned force field separating us.

"The _Pearl_'s not the only thing I love, Emberlynn," I muttered. Mad Emberlynn looked up at me in shock, then let out an piercing shriek that rocked the boat, even if only I could hear it.

Slowly, she was fading. Her hair was whipping behind her, long and free, as she became dimmer and dimmer. I tried to grab the wisps that remained of her, but they slipped away and left me.

I turned and looked at Logical and Sarcastic for an answer to the million questions buzzing in my head, but they were following Mad's example. I made to grab Sarcastic around the middle, but my arms slipped right through, and I received the feeling of being doused with cold water, though I wasn't wet. Fog remained for a moment, and then I was utterly alone.

"What the bloody hell?" I mumbled.

I looked for a bottle of rum, but without any luck. Damn I needed rum.

And her.

Rum and her would make my life perfect.

* * *

**EMBERLYNN POV**

William climbed up first, helping me back onto the _Pearl_, then Elizabeth. As she walked towards Barbossa, who was standing with some sort of smug look on his face, she spoke to William and I.

"We need to use the _Black Pearl _as a flagship to lead the attack," she said, then stopped when she saw what Barbossa was looking so happy about.

"Will we now?"

I turned my head and saw Tia, wrapped completely around from the neck down in ropes as thick as my arm. The crew were holding onto the ends not touching her body, helping her up the stairs. They were all muttering things like, "Right, Mrs. Fish," and such. I made to untie her, but several men grabbed my arms and held me tightly.

"Barbossa, you can't release her!" William cried, and other men grabbed him and Elizabeth. They cocked their guns near the lovers' necks.

"Trust Jack for once," I tried to reason. "Give him a chance."

Barbossa turned on me and glared. "Apologies, your Majesty." I glared in turn at his overly exaggerated tone. "Too long my fate has not been in me own hands." He gently placed his long-nailed fingers on the black shell Sao Feng had given me. "No longer." And he snapped the cord off.

I gritted my teeth and, in anger, I spat on his face. One long hand wiped it away and then grabbed my jaw.

"Ye should know better than to get on the wrong side of a pirate," he retorted, squeezing my cheeks. "Or it shall be hell to pay."

He let go, leaving my face red and aching. I probably had angry crimson marks on my chin and cheeks. Tia now stood by the mast, all the men surrounding her. Barbossa turned, motioning for the men holding us to bring us forward, too.

He dropped my necklace and Jack's little beaded cord into the shallow bowl holding all of the other Pieces of Eight. Tia's eyes were half closed and she was shivering in anticipation, though no smile was on her face.

"Be there some manner of rite or incantation?" Gibbs asked. Barbossa nodded.

"Aye. The items brought together -" He waved his hands over the bowl "- done. Items to be burned -" Ragetti handed him a smoking stick "- and someone must speak the words, 'Calypso, I release ya from your human bonds'."

Pintel raised an eyebrow. "Is tha' it?"

"It must be spoken as if to a lover," I replied. Barbossa didn't even turn. Many of the men sighed in want and Tia's mouth hung open a bit, enjoying the thought of being released.

But she couldn't be. She just couldn't.

Silence overcame everyone as Barbossa, eyes purposeful, lifted the smoking stick above everyone's heads.

"Calypso! I release you from your human bonds!" Possibly the most unromantic tone ever.

Then he touched the stick to the contents within the bowl. There was slight sizzling, but otherwise, nothing happened. Tia opened her eyes, looking at him scornfully.

"Is _tha' _it?" Pintel asked. Ragetti shook his head, though.

"N-no, no, no!" he moaned, and I noticed that he had an eye patch on instead of his wooden eye. "You di'n't say it righ'!" Barbossa looked at him doubtfully, almost in a way that dared him to contradict the captain. "You…you have to say it righ'."

Then he turned towards Tia, looking at her for a brief moment, then letting his gaze trail to me. His eye remained there while he spoke to her, though.

"Calypso," he muttered. My own eyes widened. "I release you from your human bonds."

His tone was so soft, so gentle, so sensuous that I almost fell for it, too, but snapped out of it when the contents of the bowl lit up. It floated in the air, just in front of her. Purple smoke emitted from it, curling and then hitting her nose. She moaned a bit, shaking, but William spoke.

"Tia Dalma!" he cried, coming towards her against the men's strong grips. She didn't hear him, until he added softly, "Calypso."

The bowl fell to the deck and she was still shuddering uncontrollably, though her eyes were semi focused on him now.

"When the Brethren Court first imprisoned you, who was it that told them how?" he asked quietly. She didn't answer, though her eyes were saddening. "Who was it that betrayed you?"

"Name him!" she cried in reply. Before he could speak, I came right up to her, kicking away my captors, and held her by her shoulders.

"Tia, listen to me," I began, looking in her eyes though they were never focused on me. "Tia, I know your in there. I know that you won't let this take you away." Tears welled up in my eyes, but I bit them back. "Don't leave me. Please."

I felt her forehead pressed against mine and now her gaze was on mine.

"As long as you stay near de sea," she sighed, trembling violently now, "You shall be near me. I love you like you are my own, Emberlynn."

I sobbed and kissed her cheek, then backed away and muttered, "Davy Jones imprisoned her."

Tia - or rather, Calypso - squished up her face, looking like she would cry, too, and then began to grow. I backed up on instinct, as did many others. The ropes around her squirmed. Everyone held onto them tightly, trying to make sure she didn't leave the ship. The deck was heaving, creaking, making unnatural noises.

_Uh-oh._

"This is it!" Pintel cried. "This is it!" I rolled my eyes at him.

At last, with Calypso heaving heavily as though she had just pulled the ship. Her clothes didn't grow with her, so all that covered her was her the ropes. She was still beautiful, just fifty times larger.

"Calypso!" Barbossa cried, shaking me. We all knelt down to her, except me, until I was hit on the back of the knees and forced to the deck.

"I come before you as but a servant, humble and contrite!" He looked up at her. "I have fulfilled me vow, and now ask your favour! Spare meself, me ship, me crew! But unleash your fury upon those who dare pretend themselves your masters, or mine."

I looked up, too, and watched as she smiled at him in a sly way. I knew that look. It was the same way she had once looked at me when she found me in a compromising position in town with a local boy who thought I was hot. It screamed that she knew what the opposing knew, and was going to use it against him.

And then she screamed an incantation. A powerful one, one that I only knew by reading her off-limits spell books. It was one to create something to end all ends. It would make life hell for any all and all who fell close enough to it. I tried to shriek to her, to make her stop, but as I did she began to break.

A million tiny white crabs were all that were left of her.

And they all flowed overboard.

Some remained with us, clipping onto Pintel's nose and Ragetti's nether regions. He made her fly over back into the ocean and everyone went to the sides to see if she would help. As Ragetti headed there, too, I wrapped my arms around his neck and squeezed.

"You are too damn sweet, Ragetti," I mumbled, my eyes itchy and red from the tears that were soon to come. I felt him gulp, but didn't care and just tightened my grip on him.

Then I let go, kissed him on the lips only once, and headed towards the edge to hear what everyone was saying.

"Why, she's no help at all," Pintel grumbled. Then he looked at Barbossa and asked helplessly, "What now?"

"Nothin'," Barbossa replied unhappily. "Our final hope has failed us."

Bitterness obviously consumed him, but I had no patience for such a feeling, especially towards Calypso. I grabbed him by the shoulders, turned him towards me, and slapped him twice on each cheek.

"Did you really expect to get something out of the ruthless sea goddess?" I angrily asked. He moved his lips helplessly, then turned. I rolled my eyes.

* * *

**There we are :) I like this chapter, actually :) I always love the Calypso Release chapter, so yeah, here it is**

**REVIEW! I got sooooo many now that I'm just bursting with euphoria, so write more and make my life EVEN BETTER! I LOVE YOU ALL!**


	22. Battle of the Maelstrom

**The war scene. I am going to, hopefully, give you something worth-while to read. It shall be a bit shorter, probably, but alright in it's own way :) READ ON**

* * *

Some guy's hat flew off his head, aiming to the sky, swirling around. Everyone watched it go. The dark clouds that began to formulate overhead were all gloom and doom. It was the afternoon by now, and a wind stronger than most was whipping strands of loose hair around my face. Quickly, I undid the bun and let it flow freely, enjoying the sensation.

There was something eerie about the breeze that blew onto every sail, making the pulleys and lines shake. It was silent aside from the whistling and rustling of sails.

Finally, I breathed deeply, wiping my eyes dry, and muttered, "It's not over."

"There's still a fight to be had," William added. Gibbs shook his head.

"We've an armada against us," he sighed wearily. "And with the _Dutchman_, there's no chance."

"Only a fool's chance," I went on, and was not a bit surprised to hear the Elizabeth had said it with me. Barbossa grabbed both our elbows and spun us around.

"Revenge won't bring your father back, Miss. Swann," he told her bluntly. Then he faced me and added, "And Calypso is gone, so I can understand why you may wish to hurt others in your frustration, but neither of these reasons are things I'm intendin' to die for."

Elizabeth nodded coldly. "You're right," she replied calmly, making her way through the men, then turned and asked, "Then what shall we die for?"

It was a bloody good question, one that I had never pondered in fright that I'd find something I didn't want. But it was now in the open, and she went on. Standing on the banister, holding onto netting, she screamed at us.

"You will listen to me. Listen!" All ears were hers. "The Brethren will still be looking here, to us, to the _Black Pearl _to lead. And what will they see? Frightened bilge rats aboard a derelict ship? No. No, they will see free men! And freedom! And what the enemy will see is the flash of our cannons! They will hear the ring of our swords, and they will know what we can do! By the sweat of our brows, and the strength of our backs, and the courage of our hearts! Gentlemen, lady -" She nodded to me "- hoist the colours."

Everyone repeated her phrase, Gibbs announcing that we had the wind, that that was all we needed to win this battle. Elizabeth turned her head and screamed to the other ships of the Brethren the same orders. I heard the loud calls of all as they did as she commanded.

It was deafening, empowering. It made me feel as though I could conquer this battle single-handedly, and I knew that everyone else had the same emotion. There truly was power in numbers, especially when those numbers were all together to fight those bastards that call themselves the East India Trading Company

High in the sky, I saw all of our flags raise up and fly wildly in the impossibly strong wind. They looked magnificent against the clouded sky.

Elizabeth hopped down and grabbed my arms. "The _Empress _will be looking to you to lead them," she told me forwardly. I gulped, but nodded in agreement. "Good luck." And she kissed me on both cheeks, gave me a tight hug, and hurried off to help with anything else. I saw that already Ragetti and Pintel had created a mechanism that would allow me to swing across to the _Empress _safely. Taking it, I did just that.

Onboard of my vessel, just as much was happening, if not more. All the men were loading their pistols, sharpening their swords, getting as many weapons as possible onto their belts and holsters. I followed in their wake, finding my own sword somehow had come back to the ship and Tai Huang was making it shine. I was about to let him use it instead, but he stood up and held it out.

"Thank you," I mumbled, trying not to blush. He smiled and continued getting powder.

In a matter of minutes, most everyone was done packing themselves up. They all hurried to their stations. I quickly made it to the helm and stood, watching over the many who were all looking to me for directions. To the _Black Pearl _for leadership. To the heavens for hope.

A deafening rumble suddenly emitted from the clouds above our heads. I looked up, watching them swirl ominously round and round, slowly, until rain fell and hit my face. It soon became a downpour that drenched me in a matter of seconds. More thunder followed, and this time was added to by lighting that shot down in bright flashes and a roar of rage.

The _Black Pearl _went forwards just as soon as the _Dutchman_, both exceptionally fast and beginning to soak in the torrential deluge. I watched, following at a much slower pace. No one seemed to be doing much else, either, so I found this be alright.

Until a huge maelstrom opened up just between where the two fastest ships in the Caribbean were headed.

"HOLY!" I felt myself yell, causing a few men to look at me strangely, but I ignored them and quickly made the boat stop.

Apparently, the _Pearl _and _Dutchman _didn't have the same idea. Soon, they were sucked into the huge whirlpool of drastic size. I watched in horror as they slowly crept into the higher regions of the maelstrom.

Tai Huang was screaming in Japanese over the pounding of the rain to some of the men, then turned to me and yelled, "You have to get over there!" I nearly laughed.

"You're insane if you think I'm going to go into that!" I screamed back. He cracked the tiniest of smiles.

"If you love Jack Sparrow as much as this venture has shown," he began, making my grip on the wheel lessen, "_Then go_."

I gaped at him for a moment or two, not sure how to respond. I really did Jack - I had long ago admitted that to myself - but I had several dilemmas. One: transportation to the _Pearl_, two: finding Jack amongst the confusion of a storm war, and three: staying alive long enough to accomplish number two.

"We shall go close enough so you can swing over," he continued on. "Then you can go. As first mate, I think it would be wise."

My eyes widened even more, then I hugged him tightly. He seemed shocked by my actions, as he didn't return the favour, but I didn't care. I was going to go find Jack.

True to his word, Tai Huang came close to the _Pearl _just as it passed us through the maelstrom. I clung to the rope and got two of the men to push me, but I went farther than I had expected.

Overshooting the _Pearl_, I screamed in terror as I came dangerously close to hitting the water, but actually landed on the banister of the _Dutchman_. I leant precariously, almost falling in. My hand found a line tautly tied from the crow's nest to the banister, and I held onto it firmly, spinning around to look for something, anything to do.

The loudest of cannons shot off. Across the whirlpool, I saw the _Pearl _shooting cannonballs at us, and we obviously did the same, as some came towards them, too. I narrowly dodged one that was aimed at my gut unintentionally, throwing myself down onto the deck. I landed at the feet of a seaweed-haired fellow who was holding chained-linked cannonballs. He looked down at me in shock, then malicious glee.

"I'm gonna have fun with this," he roared, then aimed his cannonballs at my head. Screaming, I rolled. He looked frustrated and continued until I had rolled myself near a staircase and I could use it as leverage.

Somehow, I used my legs to knock the man down, and he hit the deck with a massively angry thud. I then jumped up and kicked his face, so that he was at least knocked out.

"PREPARE TO BOARD!" someone screamed, and I looked up to see a very wet man, Mercer, there, screaming the order. But a huge whizzing sound cut over his last word, and I ducked though I was out of reach of the cannonballs.

As Jones held up Mercer with his tentacles, slowly letting them slip through every hole in his face, I tried to think of a way to find Jack. Then my mind landed on it.

The compass.

I still had it on my belt.

I grabbed it, thinking how stupid I was for not having done so earlier, and snapped it open just as Mercer dropped to the ground dead. Shuddering, I watched the needle point to every which way until, quite suddenly, it stopped. Looking up, I saw my miracle.

Jack was walking to the edge of the ship, the chest in tow. I bolted to him, not caring what happened next, and wrapped my arms around his waist. I felt him look down at me and I knew he was smiling.

"Lookie here, boys," another voice suddenly said, and I jumped back, looking over. Jones had come down the stairs and was now standing where I had once been. "A lost bird. A lost bird that never learned to fly." He pulled his cutlass and eyed me. "And bonnie lass, who I shall have just as much pleasure murdering." His grin was malevolent in every way.

"You'll do no such thing, mate," Jack's dangerous tone muttered. Then his hand was on mine, and we were on a dangerously low place on the banister. "But better late than never to learn, right, mate? Flying, I mean."

Then he hit the chest to some mechanism near our feet, and I was flying with him. Up into the murky air. The sail which we were attached to made a sudden jolt backwards, taking us with it, and he let go and, somehow, we landed on the wooden pole at the top of the mast. He pushed the chest onto me.

"Take this to the _Pearl_, and don't wait up," he told me firmly, but I shook my damp hair.

"No, I'm not abandoning you again!" I tried to insist. He smirked a bit.

"This ain't abandoning, darling," he explained gently. "It's merely leaving. And I promise I'll see you again soon."

I nearly cried, but held it in and nodded, willing myself to move carefully. There was a flying rope close to the _Pearl _attached to our ship that I could grab and use to fly over. Carefully, I tightrope-walked my way there.

Until Jones appeared, his cutlass out and his grin evil.

"Sparrow ain't here to save you now, lassie," he hissed, and I made to scream, but heard a sharp, "DUCK!" first.

I did just that, and watched when Jones was thwacked upside the head with a sword. Jack's hand was attached, and Jones looked ready to kill. Quickly, as they began to swordfight a bit away, I walked, but slipped, and had to put the chest between my legs with difficult and shimmy my way to the rope.

"All I want is that chest!" I heard Jones roar.

"You'll have to go through me to get to it, and her, mate," Jack replied.

The rope was within reach and I took a chance and flung myself towards it. With difficulty, I grabbed on and used the end of the plank of wood to push myself forwards. With the strong winds, it was simple to fly.

But I didn't make it, and landed, instead, once again on the _Dutchman_'s floors. The chest was kept in one hand, and I took out my sword with the other, ready to take on anyone who came to me.

I struggled to keep a grip on the chest while I fought some demon-like stonefish fellow who was bloody good with a sharp weapon. Once or twice, I was cornered, but managed to get out by thwacking him in the head, or kneeing him the place you do _not _want to be kneed.

Finally, with the loudest cry of rage, he hit the sword against my left hand and I let out a yelp of pain and fright as the chest went sliding across the deck. I looked at the guy, then back at the chest, and made a mad dash towards it, dodging fighting fish people and soldiers.

As soon as I laid eyes on where it came to rest, I slid across to it, my uninjured hand out and ready to snatch the side. My finger just barely grazed the handle when it was yanked away from me. The stonefish man was holding it and looking down at me with contempt and hatred. I put both my hands on the untouched handle and began to tug.

In the distance, on the _Pearl_, I saw Barbossa standing on something tall at the helm, half-fighting off the enemy, half-screaming at the top of his lungs. I barely caught the words 'beloved' and 'poxy cur'. It almost made me laugh, until a vicious pull was made in my opposite direction.

Stonefish was tugging harshly. I put my feet on his shins, using them as strength, and aimed a final kick at his gut. But, being fortunately discombobulated, it hit him just a few inches lower.

He whined in pain and I pulled the chest from his horribly scaly hands. Many people from the _Pearl _were flying over to the _Dutchman_, and I saw a few I knew. They didn't recognize me through the torrential rain, however, and just began to fight.

I wasn't surprised at all that Jones had yet to leave Jack, since Jack probably wouldn't let him. I saw them fighting up on the pole still, looking livid and fierce. Jones, however, caught me staring, and screamed in pain as Jack cut off the tentacle holding the key. Jones clipped the sword into nothing but a choppy dagger, and then melted into the mast.

* * *

**Uh-oh. Cliff-hanger-type-thingy. Allie insisted that I stop here, otherwise you'd just leave me. I doubted it, but hey, what the hell, eh?**

**Review, s'il vous plait :):) I'll love you forever!**

**And what should I write after this fic is done? Romance is the only genre I will do, and I love OC's, so should it be another (different) Jack/OC, a Barbossa/OC, a Ragetti/OC (maybe?) And would you read them?**

**OOH! And in the next PotC coming out later this year, with Penelope Cruz in it, what should I do about her? I might write a fic to happen within that, but she's gone. Or I may forget that movie completely and just make up one that has them all in it. Thoughts?**

**REVIEW!**


	23. Goodbye Beckett

**Yeah, not my greatest work, and kinda short, but it needs to end :)**

* * *

My mind reeled for something, anything to do to defend myself.

An almighty shake rocked the boat. Looking up, I saw that the masts from the _Pearl _and the _Dutchman _were now attached. This was going nowhere good.

Another sound, one much squishier and wetter, made me turn. Jones had somehow moulded from the top of the mast to the bottom, and was now chuckling maliciously, snapping his claw with menace.

I looked for something to do, and did the only thing I could think of: I threw it. And, somehow, it made no splash overboard, no hit against the deck. I didn't have time to see if someone caught it, because Jones was quickly coming towards me.

Jack landed, somehow, just in front of me, almost falling into my arms, but I pushed him upwards. One of his hands wrapped protectively around my waist and he began to back up. Jones followed, purposeful, not really knowing where his chest had landed, either.

"You're going to pay for that, lassie," he spat cruelly, and I almost laughed.

"You and what army?" I asked.

"I don't need an army, when I have these," and he let out a mighty roar, his long tentacles reaching towards Jack. I pulled him back and we somehow made it towards a large turning device that, for some reason, I knew called the Kraken once.

Jones was on the other end, going to the sides we went, keeping us from getting out of his sight. It was a game that Jack was skilled at, until Jones realized the obvious. He groaned as he meshed into the device.

I screamed and turned the wheel so he spun around, but I had little skill, and he stopped facing us again. He let out another roar, and we ran from Jones as fast as our sopping, sodden, tired legs could go.

At some point, Jack pulled my sword from belt and began to fight Jones as I cowered in the background, unhelpful in every way. I wished I could do something, but I had no sword, and using a pistol would probably end badly. With my lack of aim, and my luck, it would hit Jack.

And I would never forgive myself if I killed him.

Again.

My voice got the best of me when I shrieked in fright. Jack had gotten hit by a sword and was now lying on the floor of the deck, helpless. I made towards him, but Jones held me by neck with his claw. It's sharp inward edges pierced my skin. I would be red all around there forever.

"Too late now, lassie," he threatened. I looked around, praying for a miracle, and it came. A sword hit him in the arm that was strangling me. He yelped in pain and let me go so I crumpled on the floor. I took the sword from Jack, ready to fight.

Elizabeth had been the one who had freed me from a cruel fate. She was now hitting Jones around, and I quickly went at it, too. He screamed in rage, in ferocity, and threw Elizabeth towards the stairs, where she landed messily. Then he turned to me, ready to do the same thing.

"You shall die, and then I shall kill your _love_." He gagged as he said the last word and I chuckled at his words, almost crying, though you wouldn't be able to tell. I was absolutely drenched.

"What about Tia?" I asked. He didn't react to this, so I added, "Or, rather, Calypso." This caught his attention. His eyes were almost saddening. He was actually showing emotion that wasn't hatred.

"She was nothing," he spat. I shook my head, my damp hair flying.

"You're lying, you wretch," I snapped back. "You loved her. You still love her. And when you die, when you fall pitiably to that dark abyss that is the ocean, she'll be there. I don't hate you Jones. But I do wish you'd admit the truth. Lying gets us nowhere. I learned that the hard way."

He was silent for a moment, then pressed the edge of the cutlass to my chin.

"Do you fear death, Emberlynn Delaney?" he asked quietly, his tone bordering on deadly.

"Do you?"

Jones turned as my eyes went behind him, and I saw Jack. In his left hand, he was clutching Jones' heart. In his right hand, the choppy sword. Jones looked dumbfounded.

"Heady tonic, holding life and death in the palm of one's hand," Jack called over the wind and rain.

"You're a cruel man, Jack Sparrow!" Jones yelled. Jack smiled and looked at me.

"Cruel is a matter of perspective," he told his enemy.

"Is it?"

Then Jones spun around, threw back his cutlass, and made to stab me in the heart. I made to cover the spot of his aim. Jack made to stab Jones.

But none of those things actually happened.

My hands fell limply to my sides. Jack's dagger remained pointed at the beating heart. And Jones' cutlass had hit William.

Elizabeth, who had been staring with rapt interest, suddenly looked like she had been stabbed, too. Her mouth was agape, just like William's. And her breathing, too, seemed to be difficult.

I looked between Jack, Jones, and the split lovers. I had no idea what would happen. This was going to end Elizabeth. Jack looked remorseful, contemplative, and confused. I hugged myself to warm up everything in the world that was becoming colder and colder.

"_Will_," Elizabeth said slowly, and I watched pitifully as she did this. Her hands were on his face, trying to get him to speak, to stay focused. "Will, _Will_…_Will_, please, _look _at me. Will! _Will_! WILL!"

A huge guy covered in barnacles who I couldn't recognize yet suddenly jumped onto Jones, looking livid and screaming in absolute rage. He began to fight Jones. I couldn't move an inch. I was shaking. I was dying, too. And all Jack could do was attempt to stab the heart.

"You will not forestall my judgement!" Jones yelled at the man, ready to stab him too, except he couldn't.

I turned to William and saw his limp hand wrapped around the choppy sword that had pierced the heart. Jack's much stronger and actually living hand was wrapped around William's.

"_Calypso_," Jones gasped, and then plummeted into the maelstrom. I nearly cried with joy.

Except William was still unmoving.

A crack came from upwards, but I didn't care. Elizabeth, my only friend left, had lost her love. Her to-be husband. Her other half, as cliché as that sounded. Jack was looking at me helplessly, hoping for forgiveness, although I couldn't give him any. It wasn't his fault. He had done all he could.

"No, no!" Elizabeth screamed. "NO!" And William's eyes fell.

Jack quickly pulled her away from him, and then took my own hand, and made a makeshift parachute. I still wasn't able to speak at all. I was mesmerized as the crew was coming towards William's lifeless corpse, muttering in a chant, "Part of the ship…part of the crew…"

"Hold on!" Jack cried, holding onto the rope and my waist. Elizabeth was sobbing horribly into my shoulder. I petted her head with my uninjured hand, hugged Jack, and watched as the _Dutchman _was sucked into the maelstrom without pity.

The sky cleared significantly, as though satisfied that William, the crew, and the _Dutchman _had been claimed by the sea. No more tears fell from the sky, because Elizabeth had enough to go around. Jack was looking at me the entire time, but I couldn't meet his gaze. Although it wasn't my loss, it felt just as bad.

We floated for a short while and then landed in the ocean. Jack and I helped Elizabeth swim to the _Pearl _as it came into view a short ways away. I almost didn't move, but Jack prompted me.

Elizabeth went up first, then Jack - under my persistence - and then myself. Gibbs and Jack both had hands out to help pull me on deck. Jack the monkey somehow managed to go there, too.

"Thank goodness, Jack!" Gibbs hoarsely said. I couldn't look at the many dead bodies on the ground. "The armada's still after her. The _Endeavour_'s coming up hard to starboard, and I think it's time we embrace that oldest and noblest of pirate traditions."

Oh right. The armada. I had completely forgotten.

"Never actually been one for tradition," Jack replied, not looking at Gibbs. Elizabeth found me and wrapped her arms around my neck. She wasn't crying anymore, but she was dry-sobbing. I hugged her back, patting it.

"Luff the sails and lay on iron!" Jack suddenly cried. I looked over the rail, ignoring Jack and Gibbs' bickering. The huge armada of ships was, indeed, still there. They looked unaffected in every way. God, I hated Beckett more than ever now.

I watched sadly as the _Endeavour _came towards us, her cannons beginning to stick out the sides. Elizabeth now stood by the banister, watching the ocean blandly. The rest of the crew was looking at the _Endeavour _as it came ever closer.

Then, the impossible happened.

A huge splash sounded to the stern of the _Pearl_, and everyone turned. The _Dutchman _had risen from the depths, and was no in the same shape as it had been before. Only instead of a haughty, annoyed, bitter Jones at the helm, William Turner stood tall and humble.

I could almost cry. Elizabeth looked overwhelmingly relieved. Even Jack seemed a bit happy.

"Full canvas!" Jack cried.

"Aye, full canvas!" Barbossa repeated. Everyone, including Elizabeth and I, began to open the sails. I watched them puff up and catch the win.

Barbossa turned the _Pearl _to the right. Out of the corner of my eye, the _Dutchman _turned left. I realized that we were now going on either side of the _Endeavour_. I caught a glimpse of Beckett's face, and nearly laughed. Priceless was the only word I could think of that fit it well enough.

"Cap'n?" Gibbs asked.

"Fire," Jack replied in a whisper, looking giddy.

"FIRE!" Gibbs repeated, and soon enough, everyone was screaming it.

The _Endeavour _was ambushed.

It was beautiful, in a mortifyingly horrid way that only pirates could enjoy. Huge chunks of painted wood flew. They didn't even attempt to fight back, because they knew it would be no use. We had the upper hand, we were going to win. And Beckett would die, just as Elizabeth had said.

No one looked more satisfied than Jack. I had no idea the depth of why he was so incredibly happy to see Beckett finally meet his grim end - though I could understand it a bit, he was a right arse and I loved the idea that he would soon be nothing more than a lifeless corpse - but it was wonderful to see him so wonderfully excited.

We passed it completely, at last, and I heard a boom that shook everyone. I looked back, watching as the _Endeavour _blew up with a final explosion of orange and black. My grin was immense.

Goodbye forever, Beckett.

* * *

**Yay! Beckett's dead! And you get another update :) I'm almost done the last chapter, so yeah**

**:'( it's almost over**

**REVIEW! 5 or more, and I'll update tomorrow for sure! :D**


	24. The Fountain of Youth

**The final chapter! *sob* it's been great, a good run, and I'll miss this story soo much :):) it was so fun to write, and I hope you enjoyed reading it, too :D The grande finale (that means BIG FINALE!) is here. Enjoy, my loves!**

* * *

"They're turnin' away!" Marty shouted, and everyone cheered with excitement. The armada was afraid. They wouldn't dare mess with us after we just murdered their flagship without a care.

I followed suit, standing among the thicket of the screams of joy and triumph, uttering in the same manner. Many of the men scooped me up and hugged me tightly, which I happily returned. Ragetti and Pintel were doing a jig, and I jumped onto Pintel's back, making Ragetti laugh and Pintel swing me around.

I had never experienced such perfect bliss.

Hats flew in every direction, some landing on others. I caught a large brown leather one, and chucked it towards the sky, too. I saw Cotton's parrot fly back to us and land on his master's shoulder. The elderly man looked proud.

The cries of utmost merriment came from every Brethren ship. My own was being just as loud and raucous as the _Pearl_. Not that they were alone. It was deafening. The noise pounded on my ears.

And I loved it.

I saw Jack's lips move, and Gibbs' as well, and then Gibbs tossed Jack's hat onto the deck. Surprisingly, it landed on my head and I pushed it down to keep it there. Gibbs was already running down the steps to get Jack's hat back, but I shook my head to him and went up myself.

Anyone who was smart moved from the helm as I came up the steps, aside from Elizabeth, who was gazing across the water at William on the _Dutchman_. I knew she wouldn't be a trouble.

Jack grinned his gold-toothed grin and leant against the wheel, looking subtly smug and hiding jubilance terribly. I didn't move to give him his hat, but he didn't look as though he had expected me to. Damn, he knew me well.

He did reach towards my hand, but I winced in pain, realizing that my hand was cut up and bloodied, looking as though it were completely red. Jack gasped a bit and quickly ripped a bit of his shirt to cover my wound.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, not looking me in the eyes. I gazed at his tilted face in confusion.

"For what?" I replied. "It isn't your fault."

"That you fell for a pirate."

This took me by surprise. I nearly let my hand fall from his gentle grip. He must've sensed my shock, because his gaze finally met mine.

"I'm sorry that you can't marry some kind gentleman who can give you a life on land," he went on. He practically spat out some of the words. "I'm sorry that you'll never be truly happy there, with someone else. I'm sorry that, if you want to be with me, you'll have to remain on the ocean." He finished wrapping my hand, but didn't let it go. "I'm just sorry for everything."

I shook my wet hair at him. "Please don't be. You make it seem a burden to love you."

He shook his head at me.

"But it is, love," he insisted. "Don't you see? I love you - good Lord, I love you - but it is impossible for me not to be at sea. If I could stay at a port with you for years, without a care in the world, I would in a heartbeat. But the sea is me home."

"And now it's mine, too," I replied firmly. I slowly began to walk to the other side of the helm, the side Elizabeth didn't occupy. "You don't have to pick just one. Over the past few months, I've learned to love the sea. I've learned to enjoy that constant smell of salt, the half-shit food, those mongrels of a crew." We both chuckled. My eyes went to the ocean, thoughtful. "Plus, I have another reason to remain close to the water."

I could almost hear Tia's gentle voice sighing in the breeze.

Gibbs clambered up the staircase to Elizabeth, and we went down, ready to say goodbye to her, I supposed. I really would rather not, but it was inevitable. Elizabeth's home was most definitely on land.

But mine wasn't.

She passed each man, nodding or saying something heartfelt, or just passing by. Then she stopped at Jack and I. The first thing she did was lean in to hug Jack, but he put his hands up in a sign of pass.

"Once was quite enough, love," he muttered. I elbowed his stomach and opened my own arms to her.

"I'll have his hug," I told her gently. She giggled and wrapped her slender arms around my neck.

"I'll miss you," she breathed. I nodded, willing myself not to cry. I hated the thought of her leaving.

"I know," I replied. "And I you." She backed up and held my hands. "And when you and William marry, just send for me. I'll come through thick or thin, and so will this lug." I nodded to Jack.

Elizabeth laughed a bit. "Properly, you mean?" I raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Barbossa will explain later. And you mustn't worry. You'll be the maid of honour."

And with a final squeeze, she managed to give a quick hug to Jack and then hop into the longboat. From the _Dutchman_, I watched William do the exact same thing in his own. I sighed.

"Young love. Beautiful, no?"

"No," Jack replied. I looked at him. "Yes." He fidgeted. "Sometimes." Laughing, I draped my arms around his neck, letting his own go to my waist.

"Only sometimes?" I pressed, kissing his right cheek, then his left, then his nose. He groaned a bit under the touch.

"Aye," he replied huskily.

"Would this help you change your answer," I murmured, and pushed my lips to his. I was fully aware of how much he enjoyed this.

Slowly, we staggered back, ignoring the strange looks some of the crew must've given us. I couldn't be sure, as my eyes were closed and I was betting so were his. We hit the door of the captain's cabin, and he quickly opened it. Pulling away, he shouted at everyone, "If I am disturbed before William returns, it'll be all your heads!"

And he slammed the door shut, turned to me with a devilish grin, and pushed me down to the bed. I didn't see daylight until the next afternoon.

* * *

I pulled the line one more time, making sure it was taut and tight. Gibbs was lying on the ground, asleep with his burlap sack teddy bear. He'd had a wild night with a couple of whores, full of scattered clothing, raucous laughter, and far too much rum. Being a bit of a prude, I'd gotten an inn in the town.

I really hated Tortuga. It smelt of alcohol all the time, although the days were a bit better than evenings and nights. There was always at least one prostitute humping someone somewhere, whether it was an unconscious drunk or a barrel of gin. Ships always lined the dock that we had stopped the _Pearl _at.

'_Had_' being the key word.

You see, it was gone.

Sometime during the night, when Jack had decided to take me and Gibbs out, Barbossa - I assumed he led it; it seemed in character - had woken anyone left on the ship, so most of the crew, and cast off without Gibbs, Jack, or myself. I was pissed at Barbossa for mutinying, at Gibbs for still sleeping, and Jack for convincing me to go out.

He'd roped me into it, without caring too much about what would happen. No surprise, he and Gibbs easily drank themselves into oblivion in half an hour, but I refused to even gulp a mouthful. Both so I could remain sober and watch over the two of them, but also the taste of rum made me gag. But only when I took it straight. I loved the taste of it on Jack.

"Oi, fella!"

I turned and looked at the owner of the call. He was tall and black, strapping enough and well-built. He could've pulverized me in an instant, if he didn't know I was a girl. Did I happen to mention that I now donned men's breeches and a poet's shirt? Oh, and my favorite black boots. It was a true miracle they were still intact after everything that had happened in my life.

"Aye, sir?" I asked in a slightly deeper voice. He hardly noticed.

"De captain says dat we be goin' ashore. Wants ta know if you'll be goin' wit us. Will ya? If not, you'll be alone for a few hours."

I shook my head. "Thanks, but no thanks. Prefer to keep tightening lines, if you don't mind." He nodded and headed off without another word.

Perfect. _Poseidon's Blade _was ripe for the taking. And with no crewmen to get in my way, I'd have no trouble at all stealing her.

As I began to swab the darkly colored deck, my eyes crept down the dock that was full of men with hangovers carrying huge crates or weaving nets. Several were going down and finishing provisioning the _Blade_, but then quickly left. One man in particular, striding down the middle of the dock with his arms around two whores. In one hand was a golden goblet bedazzled with heavy jewels. His hat sat proudly on his head.

Jack.

"Care to take a ride, lovelies?" I heard him say. He looked tired and hung-over, no surprise, and obviously didn't know. Great. He'd spent the night with some whores to satisfy the sex drive that I refused to slake.

"On that?" the redhead asked. _Her hair was so obviously fake_, I bitterly thought. I looked back at the tight braid going down my back. With the huge brown hat that I loathed but was forced to wear to keep up appearances, and the shapeless top, I looked just like a man.

"It's not very big," the blonde muttered.

"That is a dinghy,…um…" I stifled a laugh at his lack of memory. The blonde widened her darkly outlined eyes.

"Giselle," she prompted. He nodded.

"Aye, Giselle. My vessel is magnificent and fierce and huge-ish and…gone." He looked around the open ocean. "Why's it gone?"

"Let us only say," I suddenly began, grabbing a hanging rope and sliding down so I landed near them on the dock neatly, "That your mutinous ex-first-mate has made off with the Pearl. And you are now left to die in Tortuga with your rums and your cheap wenches."

Jack obviously didn't recognize me, as he glared with anger and hate. He let go of the wenches and came forward, a bit tipsy, pointing his finger at my face.

"D'you know who I am, son?" he asked menacingly.

"Jack," I whispered gently, and his eyes widened. He threw his goblet away and put his hands up in surrender. I wagged a finger at him. "I'll deal with you in a moment."

I strode to the whores, who were looking at me in confusion. Then, I explained.

"Yes, he lied to you. No, he doesn't love you. Dear, don't kid yourself, of course it makes you look fat. Surprisingly, he has never been to Brussels. It is pronounced _ee-gree-juss_. And no, he has never met Pissarro, but he does so love that man's pies." What can I say? I knew Jack well. "And I hope one day you find someone who likes the people you are underneath all that makeup." I turned to leave, but then went back and added to the redhead, "And your breasts are uneven."

She looked morally offended, and both rushed to me, ready to slap, but I ducked and let Jack take them both. He groaned in pain and I watched with a slight grin as the two prostitutes huffed off.

Jack opened his mouth to say something, but I held up a finger and shook my head. "First," and I slapped him once more. "And second," I took a canteen from a barrel, opened it, and poured the contents on Gibbs.

"Gibbs, you unhelpful load!" I spat. He looked up at me in shock. "C'mon, we aren't going to find whatever it is your captain here wants this time without you!"

I motioned to Jack, who quickly helped his first mate up and led him and his teddy towards me. I was leaning on a few crates by a ramp leading to the _Blade_.

"And just how are we going to get to wherever Jack wants to go?" Gibbs asked, slightly slurring, but mostly annoyed at my rude awakening. I got up and drummed my fingers on the dark underside of the Blade.

"This is your latest ship, Captain Sparrow."

He gawked at the thing for a moment, then rushed up the plank, leaving Gibbs. I wrapped my arm around the fat man and helped him up, too.

Jack was already at the helm, looking out at the vast ocean when Gibbs and I made it up and we were off. I went up to him.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, not looking at me. I shook my head and leaned into his shoulder.

"You're lucky I love you," I replied.

"If it helps, when I was completely smashed and using them to supply myself, all I could say was, 'Emberlynn'." I almost laughed, then turned the subjects.

"So, where to now, captain?" I asked. He pulled out of his dark coat something large and rolled up. Spreading out between his hands, I looked at it.

The charts. He had taken the charts from Barbossa.

He turned the wheels slowly, setting in place some things, and I looked at the image he pointed to. It was a silver goblet, with a black skeleton and an angel dancing above it. On a scroll across the cup, it read 'Aqua de Vida'. It was located near Florida.

"The Fountain of Youth," I muttered. He nodded.

"Imagine," he began whimsically. "Living forever. Just you, me, and the open ocean. And maybe some rum." I laughed and kissed his cheek, then ran down the stairs.

"_Drink up me hearties, yo ho_," I heard him sing faintly while climbing the mast to get to the crows nest. All I could see was blue water, rising and falling, looking unbelievable in every way that I would one day spend forever out here without a care in the world.

Just me, Jack, and the ocean.

And a bottle of rum.

* * *

**So, the Pearl is gone. Barbossa stole it, but Jack stole the charts, and now him, Gibbs, and Emberlynn are off on a whirlwind adventure. They're still going after the Fountain of Youth, but no mermaids, no zombies, maaaybe Blackbeard, and NO Penelope Cruz.**

**Should I? Or should I not? Write a sequel, I mean. Thoughts?**

**REVIEW! I love you all, I am soo happy that you all enjoyed my story, and as far as I remember, there was only one bad review! YAY! Tell me what you think, please, and if a sequel should happen! :D**

**I love you all :)**

**- . 3**


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